Roads are for sharing.
That鈥檚 the idea behind a campaign currently underway from the AV俱乐部 Transporation Collaboratory (DalTRAC). This month, is calling on students and the public to join the discussion on road safety. By sharing or tweeting the 鈥�10 Days of Share鈥� posts, anyone can win a daily prize, including a Visa gift card, iPod Nano and other prizes.
鈥淓very day, we post something to target a different road user,鈥� says Niki Siabanis, a master's student in the School of Planning and organizer of the campaign. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to put out really positive videos that encourage behaviour change in people and how they use the road.鈥�
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Sparking discussion
Sharing everything from driving tips to asking which the day of the week has the most collisions, the 10 Days of Share effort seeks to spark a discussion. 鈥淲e鈥檙e giving everyone a 鈥榯humbs up鈥� for respecting the rules of the road and each other,鈥� says Dr. Ahsan Habib, the assistant professor who oversees the DalTRAC lab. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about road safety: it鈥檚 about promoting a feeling of safety on the road.鈥�
DalTRAC works with civil engineers and planning students on numerous transportation projects. Born out of a yearlong research project looking into the rise of collisions across Nova Scotia, Share the Road Nova Scotia seeks to proactively address this rise.
鈥淲hen you look at the figures of collisions in Nova Scotia, you see that people really take the road and what they do on it for granted: distracted walking and driving is on the rise,鈥� says Siabanis, 鈥淚 think road safety is really underplayed in our community, the more I learn in this campaign the more important I see it is to engage people in road safety discussion."
A positive take
Positive reinforcement drives the Share the Road Nova Scotia鈥檚 movement. 鈥淕enerally road awareness campaigns are done showing negative messages about the risk, but ours is positive messaging," says Dr. Habib. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about promoting feeling safe.鈥�
The 10 Days of Share is just one element of Share the Road Nova Scotia鈥檚 efforts. Share the Road Nova Scotia has held community forums, attends local events and even ran a bike camp for kids during the summer. 鈥淓veryone is important in this campaign,鈥� says Dr. Habib. 鈥淭he road space is for all. It鈥檚 a shared responsibility.鈥�
Taking an umbrella approach, Share the Road Nova Scotia is encouraging municipalities around Nova Scotia to take advantage of the research, engagement and campaign development that has been done, and adopt their own Share the Road campaigns.
鈥淲e really want the community to own the campaign,鈥� says Siabanis. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have the infrastructure in many areas of the province yet, so education is a cheaper alternative to keeping people safe. If people know how to share the road, it will help to bring the collisions down.鈥�
鈥淭ransportation choices touch everyone,鈥� says Dr. Habib. 鈥淓very student and citizen has a stake in this and so they should be involved in thinking about how we can improve by joining the movement.鈥�
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