Zavarovalnica Triglav dd : Working together against speeding drivers in Dolenjska and Kočevje

As part of efforts to increase traffic safety for their residents, the City of Novo Mesto and the Municipality of Kostel have installed 'Your Speed' signs at critical stretches of road. This has already resulted in greater road safety. In the first week of operation, the number of speeding drivers fell by 11% in Velike Brusnice and by 5% on the national road through the village of Fara.

As the Slovenian police have been warning for several years now, speed kills. Being struck by a vehicle travelling at 50 km/h has the same effect on the human body as a fall from a height of 10 metres. At 100 km/h, this equates to a fall from a height of 40 metres, which means the pedestrian will suffer extremely serious injuries, if they survive at all. As even small reductions in speed are key to preventing serious road accidents, traffic calming in residential areas, where pedestrians are most at risk, is one of the main elements of a preventive approach and an effective measure for reducing the number of road accidents.

The Calming Traffic Together project arose at the initiative of Sipronika and is supported by Zavarovalnica Triglav and municipalities around Slovenia, among them the City of Novo Mesto and the Municipality of Kostel. The most pronounced fall in the percentage of speeding drivers in the municipalities in question occurred in the largest municipality in Dolenjska, by the primary school and nursery school in Velike Brusnice, on the regional road between Gabrje and Ratež, where the speed limit is 50 km/h.

Improving children's safety

'At the City of Novo Mesto, we have focused on taking a comprehensive approach to improving road safety along school routes. An essential component of measures to calm traffic and ensure a safe journey to school is the acquisition of statistical data from measuring devices. We are therefore continuing activities to improve road safety. Understandably, the most vulnerable road users, children going to and from school, are at the forefront of our thinking. Using previous good practice as our guideline, we have installed the speed-measuring unit in the Brusnice school district, and we are delighted to have been able, with the help of Zavarovalnica Triglav, to realise our road safety vision,' said Novo Mesto's deputy mayor Boštjan Grobler, who added that they would be equipping other dangerous sections with the units in the future, thereby continuing to ensure that all road users enjoy greater levels of road safety.

The number of speeding drivers has also fallen by 5% in the Municipality of Kostel, where the speed display unit has been installedon the national road through the village of Fara, by the local primary and nursery schools and the Centre for School and Out-of-School Activities. The speed limit on this section is 50 km/h. 'The speed indicator unit we have installed in front of Fara primary school is a major acquisition for our municipality. Indeed, it is the first such unit in the municipality. We are sure that it will help to raise drivers' awareness and get them to stick to the speed limit through the village,' explained Boštjan Ožanič, chair of the Kostel Road Safety Council, as he discussed the installation of the unit at the approach to Fara.

An innovative tool that works

In the past three years, Zavarovalnica Triglav, in collaboration with Sipronika, have installed 44 'Your Speed' smart display systems around the country as part of the preventive 'Calming Traffic Together' project. The signs thank drivers for driving carefully or make them aware that their behaviour behind the wheel is unsatisfactory. At the same time, they store and process traffic data, which can then be viewed on the www.vi-vozite.si website, on the municipality's website and on netbook computers in school assembly halls, including the halls of the primary schools in Brusnice and Fara. The system therefore constitutes an innovative and effective solution and an important tool for analysing data and determining future speed-reduction measures. 'The very rapid, positive effect of the 'Your Speed' signs on road users seen in those municipalities in which they are already operational has been replicated in these two municipalities in Dolenjska,' explained Sipronika's managing director Marjan Kržišnik.

Six speed display units already operational in Dolenjska

For several years now, Zavarovalnica Triglav, which places safety and responsibility to the fore in all the things it does, have been involved in a variety of activities designed to improve road safety. 'Our experiences up to now mean that we are well aware that speed indicator signs are an effective way of calming traffic and that they really do increase safety on selected sections of road, which is why we have supported the installation of two new display units in Velike Brusnice and Fara,' said David Toporš, director of the Novo Mesto regional office of Zavarovalnica Triglav.

The joint efforts to improve road safety are also supported by some of the ambassadors of this nationwide project, namely the members of Krka basketball club: 'The most important attributes on court are speed and explosiveness.But when we're driving through built-up areas, the team rely on caution, care and patience. So we're very happy to act as patrons of speed display units, which warn drivers to slow down through Velike Brusnice and Fara, where there are large numbers of children milling around, during the holidays as well.'

Six speed display units have already been installed in the Dolenjska region of the country as part of the 'Calming Traffic Together' campaign: in addition to the latest two, in Velike Brusnice and Fara, there is one in Šmarješke Toplice, one in Trebnje and two in Novo Mesto, on Seidlova cesta and in Šmihel, installed last year and the year before respectively.