President Oddvar Haagensen visited 5th October 2011 the Belgium National Road Safety days after invitation by the Belgium Armed Forces. The Road Safety days were organized in a military compound just outside Brussels, and were the first National Road Safety days ever in Belgium.
For the opening ceremony national authorities and international visitors were invited, and among them 3 Belgium Generals. In his opening remarks LtCol Johnny Laurent, the Head of the Military Initiative on Road Safety (MIRS) and former member of the ECRAF Executive Committee, expressed his thanks to ECRAF due to the fact that much of the motivation for organizing the Road safety days was a result of the cooperation in ECRAF.
After a short introduction the visitors was given the opportunity to see the different stands. The Stands was established in a large hangar, and focused on seven different Road Safety issues. The themes were:
- Theory highway code and blind spot
- Traffic accident emergency procedures (First aid and reports)
- Alcohol and Drugs (Prevention – effects)
- Safety belt and Speed (Ability to react)
- Driving Simulator (Truck – Motorcycle)
- Protection Environment
- Safety and Security (cargo loading – lifting of freight)
- The organizer had put a lot of effort into the Road Safety days, and the result was outstanding. The possibility for visitors to be briefed, but also to experience different road safety issues, was very well planned. For me as the President of ECRAF it was motivating to see a concrete example on what the cooperation in ECRAF can mean in real life, says president Oddvar Haagensen after his visit to Belgium.