By agreement annexed to the Local Initiative of the city of Opole we commenced, in June, the realization of the public project “Senior citizen safe on the road.”

The aged citizens belong to a group of people who usually took their driving license exams a few decades ago. They often drive relying predominantly on their memory of the past, but such routinism is a dangerous habit on the road. In addition to this, the whole road infrastructure has changed – new roads have been built, including bicycle lanes, and, consequently, the road code has adjusted to the new situation. Senior citizens are often confused by these alterations, and, what naturally follows, less confident. Giving them awareness and understanding of these changes as well as teaching them how to behave on the road is intended to boost their confidence and secure safety for them and other users of the roads. A broad advertising campaign in public and social media promoted the initiative addressed specifically to the aged people of Opole, the latter being a town awarded the certificate of “The aged-friendly town.”

In June, within the framework of the project, we realized the task of providing 100 aged citizens of Opole with an hour of upskill training with professional driving instructors for the purpose of updating their theoretical and practical knowledge. Every participating senior had his/her knowledge of the road regulations refreshed and was re-trained with regard to the recent modifications of the road code. The instructors examined driving technique and, in the case of mistakes, corrected them on the spot. During the course, we carried out a plebiscite for a Champion of a Steering Wheel. The training yard was visited by a crew of the local TV as well as Arkadiusz Wiśniewski, President of Opole, who had backed the initiative since the very beginning and enthusiastically supported Opole’s seniors till the end.

At the same time, we organized for 100 aged citizens eyesight examination free of charge in One Day Clinic, where every participating person had his/her eyesight checked with regard to potential vision defects and received medical advice on the selection of corrective lenses necessary to ensure safer driving, as well as instruction on the exercises improving their eyesight.

Another point to realize within the framework of the Initiative was supposed to be a meeting with a paramedic refreshing the knowledge of the participants with regard to the first aid at the site of a road accident. However, due to the pandemic and the sanitary epidemic control regimen, it was not possible to conduct these meetings in real life as planned. Therefore, an alternative project was worked out of preparing educational films dealing with the problems of road safety and the first aid on the road. In consequence, after preparing a screenplay, the accident prevention films have been shot. The films were then placed on the site www.seniorwopolu.pl and at the Facebook profile entitled “Senior w Opolu.” The project involved participation of the employees of the local branch of PCK (Polish Red Cross), policemen, and volunteers.

The last stage of realization of the Local Initiative project was the organization of a cycling excursion for Opole’s seniors. Before the beginning of the excursion, the participants were trained with regard to road safety. Each one of them received a high-visibility vest and band as well as a bicycle bell. After conducting a technical check-up of the bicycles, 40 seniors under the care of the employees of CS began the excursion along an 18 km long bicycle tail towards Turawa Lakes. All the time, the peloton was accompanied by a police cycle patrol protecting the group from either side.  At the finishing post, the participants were welcomed by police water patrol, who had prepared a rescue buoy throw competition. The winner was awarded a prize.

Thanks to the financial support of the city of Opole and the backing of the Social Policy Dept. of the Municipal Office, CS in Opole operating within MOPR in Opole, Town Police Office of Opole, PCK, branch of Opole, PZMoT, and the invaluable voluntary workers, the realization of the Local Initiative of “Senior citizen safe on the road” turned out to be a great success. The crown of the event was the ceremony of conferring the titles of a Champion of the Steering Wheel (Iwona Skrzypecka and Jerzy Buczek), who received diplomas and prizes awarded by MOPR in Opole, the Social Policy Dept. of the Municipal Office of Opole, PCK, the branch of Opole, and the Town Police Office of Opole.