Croatia rallies behind Make Roads Safe

Croatia's Make Roads Safe campaign has gone into overdrive during the past few months, with a series of nation wide events, mass public support and backing from celebrities and politicians.

Eduardo da Silva supports the Make Roads Safe campaign

President of Croatia Stjepan Mesić, the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Vladimir Šeks and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović have recently sent the campaign a letter of support, outlining how they are fully behind Make Roads Safe and its goals.

In the world of sport, stars have given their high profile backing to the campaign. Tennis ace Ivan Ljubičić was the first to sign the petition. He was followed by Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva and his fellow Croatian international Niko Kranjčar. Croatian auto club HAK persuaded three-times national rally champion Juraj Šebalj to put the Make Roads Safe logo on his Mitsubishi Lancer. He promoted the campaign at the 2007 European championships.

Ivan Ljubičić signs the Make Roads Safe petition

The HAK website the Make Roads Safe banner, in Croatian at the top of the home page. The banner link takes visitors to a dedicated page with information on the campaign, its goals and purpose. Of course, it's also possible to sign the petition online.

In the past few months Make Roads Safe has attracted extensive media coverage in Croatia following on from the campaign launch in April. The national network of auto clubs also got children involved in junior schools and ensured that local celebrities gave their support. In total 27 local auto clubs from 21 towns gave their support and by the end of UN Road Safety week, they had gathered over 42,000 signatures.

Coming up in September are traffic safety activities for schools which HAK will organise together with its county auto clubs. Croatia intends to continue raising support for the campaign through to the UN General Assembly meetings in November when the petition, complete with signatures of thousands of Croatian citizens, will be handed over in New York.

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