A unique road safety campaign has been rolled out in Russia that nears an inventive way to force drivers to slow down.
The tactic involves topless –near naked – women carrying speed limit signs, parading along the side of the road at accident blackspots.
Road safety campaign Avtodrizhenia, who staged the trial, said that ‘most speeding drivers, the majority of whom happened to be men, slowed down to admire the female road safety assistants.’ This the idea significantly slowed traffic near a pedestrian crossing in Severny village, in the central Nizhny Novgorod region.
While the trial dates from 2013, the idea has been revived as part of a new national debate on reducing the 30,000 a year deaths on Russia’s roads.
The topless women walked around the black spots holding signs warning of 60 and 40 kilometres per hour. According to the road safety, there were no reports of accidents caused by drivers being distracted.
Local media reported that elderly pedestrians were grateful for the bizarre method, claiming they took their lives in their hands each time they use the designated road crossing.
‘It’s a super thing, amazing. I’d like to see more of this by the road, and yes I looked at speed limit sign this time. It will teach other drivers too,’ a male driver said.
Igor Mikhailushkin, head of the regional police press service in Nizhny Novgorod region, where the experiment took place, said they hope to reduce road accidents.
‘We have organised similar installations this and last year trying to make the drivers obey the speed limit. But I must say our girls were dressed more than these women,’ Igor Mikhailushkin said.
Figures suggest Russia’s roads are among the most dangerous in the world.