"BEZBEDNOST JE VREDNOST" PROJECT OF COOPERATION NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION WITH CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS THROUGH SYNERGY BETWEEN ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION, CULTURE AND ART

The Association for Youth is a non-governmental and association based on indefinite time in order to achieve goals in the field of civil society development, youth education and development of non-formal education, youth health and growing up, improvement of social inclusion of children and youth with disabilities and special needs, as well as other socially endangered category of population, safety of children and youth, safety of children and youth in traffic, activism and volunteerism of youth, mobility and interculturalism, ecology and raising the social awareness of children and young people them in the field of sports, culture and arts. Some of the goals of the Association are to encourage the development of local self-government through the participation of young people in decision-making and strengthening the capacity of institutions and organizations to implement programs and activities that contribute to the safety of children and young people in traffic. This association has recognized its role in the traffic safety management system and is working to directly and indirectly contribute to raising awareness about the significance of traffic safety through various projects.
The Agency for the Safety of Transport of the Republic of Serbia on its website published the "Report on basic indicators of the traffic safety situation" for the period from 2012 to 2016 for local governments, where the analysis of the absolute indicators and research of traffic performance indicators defined the existing situation on the territories local self-governments in Serbia. Based on the results of the report for Pancevo, the Association for Youth defined the project "Safety is value" which represents the synergy of transport education and education with culture and art. Namely, in the past two years in Pancevo, there has been an increase in the number of injured children in traffic aged up to 14 years and young people aged 15 to 30 years. As for the number of deceased children under the age of 14, there were no, and there was a decrease in the number of young people aged 15 to 30 who died.
The project was designed to stop the negative and maintain a positive trend in the mentioned phenomena, and through the education and cultural content of young people, the correct attitudes about traffic safety were fostered. The activities of the project are directed at the mentioned age groups of participants in traffic and are defined so that through traffic education and upbringing the topics related to the way in which children or young people are starving. From the report, we find that children aged 14 and under often suffer as in-car passengers, pedestrians, then as cyclists, while young people aged 15 to 30 are most likely to suffer as a driver and that the most risky month is October, and project activities have already begun in September.
Modified theoretical lectures, interactive type, represent the first part of the project and are designed so that the topics can be processed during one school time in a way that is acceptable to students, while remaining sufficient time for the exercises that are part of the lecture. During work with high school students, simulations of alcohol influence on psychophysical abilities were carried out using "drunk busters" glasses, during which the students solved certain tasks with and without glasses in order to detect differences in reaction and behavior on their own case. For elementary school students, tasks have been prepared in accordance with their age, with the basic idea that in specially designed drawings they can see and mark unsafe behavior in traffic, and then publicly explain their observations and discuss certain situations with lecturers in the role of moderators that emphasize risk situations and direct the course thinking and perception.
The essence of the traffic education is to move out of the classroom and implement it in various activities. Theater performance "Motori" as a cultural segment of the project "Bezbednost je vrednost" is the implementation of traffic education and education in culture, that is, theatrical art, which uniquely achieves awareness, influences the construction of a system of values ​​and through identification with characters, reconsider existing positions.
The theater performance is a saga of personal responsibility and growing up, which often challenges many young people with difficulty to resist, and whose consequences are long-term and equally negative for society and the individual. The performance was designed and adapted to the age of the target group, with a multitude of motifs related to the importance of traffic safety and the consequences of unsafe behavior in traffic and its impact on the quality of life.
In March 2017, in association with the Youth Theater "Dadov" from Belgrade, the Association for Youth held a modified lecture on traffic safety as a pilot project at one of the first performances of the play "Motors", and then, taking into account feedback and reactions, the "Bezbednost je vrednost" project was created, which was realized several months later in Pancevo.