Russian road safety

A rather unusual and somewhat controversial road safety campaign is being used in parts of Russia. Scantily dressed women wearing a minimum of provocative wear are being paid to stand by the roadside holding speed limit signs. This approach is being organised by the Russian road safety charity Avtodrizhenia and is said to be highly effective at encouraging male drivers to slow down. There have been no incidences of driver distraction so far and the results for road safety have in fact been positive, with (male) drivers slowing down. The road safety campaign has been trialled successfully at a noted blackspot for crashes, close to a pedestrian crossing in Severny village, in Russia’s central Nizhny Novgorod region. Russia’s road deaths stand at around 30,000/year so reducing the fatality rate is a key target, even if unconventional methods are required.