Yerevan /Mediamax/. Upon the initiative of Ambassador Erikas Petrikas, the Embassy of Lithuania in Armenia has held an event-study course on road safety at Yerevan Gurgen Mahari Basic School №176.

The study course aimed to introduce the schoolchildren to the rules of traffic safety. Upon the initiative of the Embassy, luminous safety belts were distributed to first grade students.

The luminous belts will make children visible on the roads and ensure their safety from the point of the risk of a traffic accident.

“The main mission of the event organized upon the initiative of Ambassador of Lithuania Erikas Petrikas and with the support of Yerevan Municipality is to instill in schoolchildren the idea of safe and secure traffic rules”, Director of Gurgen Mahari Basic School Mariam Khachatryan said.

“Lithuania has developed extensive practice in decreasing the number of traffic accidents, especially in reducing child mortality cases”, Lithuanian expert Egle Namanite who has arrived in Armenia told Mediamax.

“Works aimed at raising awareness in Lithuania have yielded excellent results. Videos on traffic rules are shown every day even in public transport and it makes pedestrians, especially children more watchful”, Egle Namanite said.

During the study course, the schoolchildren were introduced to the basic and primary rules pedestrians are required to know when crossing the street, among them to be careful, to take off the headphones and to be most watchful.

“I have worked in Armenia for a year and during this time I have come to realize that we can develop deep cooperation with Armenia in a number of areas. Sharing the idea of road safety and our practice is one of those areas”, Erikas Petrikas told Mediamax.

The Ambassador expressed his gratitude to the Armenian Ministry of Transport and the Traffic Police for supporting the idea.

“It’s still the first step. What we want is to have the idea spread to all Armenian schools and kindergartens in not only Yerevan, but also all regions. I truly hope more people will be willing to continue the program and on that way we will definitely find people sharing our idea in order to expand the program”, Erikas Petrikas noted.

Employees of the Armenian Police, Ministry of Education and Science and Yerevan Municipality were present at the event. They applauded the initiative of the Embassy of Lithuania and thanked for the launch of the important event.