Week of Safety campaign opened in Budapest

The safety of children comes first, Bence Rétvári, parliamentary state secretary of the interior ministry, said, opening the Week of Safety campaign in Budapest on Monday.

The campaign focusing on accident prevention and the protection of health and the environment is being organised in coordination with the police force, firefighters, the ambulance service, the Red Cross and the Hungarian Insurers Association (MABISZ), among others, Rétvári told a press conference.

Some 75,000 students have participated in the Week of Safety events in the last seven years, and the campaign’s online videos have received 3.6 million views, he said.

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József Oberling, head of the traffic department at the national police headquarters (ORFK), said that around 14,000-15,000 people are injured in road accidents each year. Some 1,000-1,500 of those are children, often because the parents don’t put them in proper child safety seats or exceed the speed limit without having their own seatbelts fastened, he said.

Police are therefore organising a Safety Days campaign this week which will involve inspections on Wednesday to make sure motorists are wearing their seatbelts and have their children in safety seats, he said. Here is the promo video: