In 1999, SAV (the former name of Transport and Logistics Flanders) launched a campaign called Safely on the Road, explaining in schools what the blind spot is and how it can be avoided. 25 years later, TLV looks back on a great success story.
With Safe on the Road, TLV has visited 2,900 primary schools over the past 25 years, representing more than 186,000 young road users. Thanks to the input of strategic partners such as Flanders, Goodyear, Randstad, Schmitz Cargobull, Schouten Energy, Transport Academy, TVM Belgium and Volvo Trucks, TLV has been able to offer the Safe on the Road sessions free of charge for a quarter of a century.
Volunteer transporters and truck drivers visit primary schools to give children in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades tips on how to stay out of the danger zones of a truck. The lesson package consists of a theory and practical lesson of 25 minutes each. The young students receive simple tips that teach them how to operate safely around a truck. During the practice, the children take the wheel of a truck themselves, so that they experience for themselves what a truck driver sees and, above all, does not see. That is exactly what happened on October 14 at the Volvo Trucks factory in Ghent. However, the children of the sixth grade at the Sint-Paulus Institute in Ghent received a very special teacher: Minister Annick De Ridder. She also gave students simple tips to stay out of a truck’s blind spot.
“Traffic education is and remains an essential part of road safety. Projects such as Safe on the Road teach children how to move safely in traffic and thus help save lives. I would like to thank TLV and the many volunteers for their continued commitment to making Flanders safer and also giving children the necessary self-confidence in traffic,” says Annick De Ridder, who herself taught students from Sint Paulus Smidse in Ghent.
Marc Van Grootel, chairman of the ‘Road Safety’ committee of TLV: “With Veilig op Weg we tick off some important building blocks for road safety, the so-called E’s. The E for education is the core business of Veilig op Weg. We not only teach young children, but also to truck drivers. They must also do everything they can to prevent accidents. It is very good that blind spot prevention is a permanent part of the mandatory further training for truck drivers. Our sector also scores particularly well in the area of the E for engineering. In recent decades, truck manufacturers have introduced an impressive range of active and passive safety systems to protect all road users. TLV has been responsible for the E for engagement for 25 years and more, including by providing life-saving tips to young road users. The different E’s of road safety should not be viewed separately. As a sector federation, TLV is convinced that all aspects must go hand in hand. After all, this is the formula for success in the joint pursuit of zero accidents.”
