-In June, the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, carried out 19 breathalyzer controls during which volunteers from the abertis foundation distributed 774 Club TR3SC cards to drivers aged under 30 who gave a negative result. A draw was made among these drivers for three trips to study English in Ireland.  

-With the slogan “You’ve got one life left. Don’t lose it on the road”, the initiative which the abertis foundation aims to gradually extend to other autonomous regions of Spain, is a pioneering one in Europe.

The abertis foundation and the Catalan Department of Interior, Institutional Relations and Participation completed its joint action “You’ve got one life left. Don’t lose it on the road”, the aim of which is to create awareness among drivers aged between 15 and 30 about the risks of the road, by giving away three trips to study in Ireland with the expenses paid. The prize winners were Juan Diego Ballesteros from Lloret de Mar, Josep Vives from Igualada and Jéssica Lago from Salou.

As part of this action, during the last two weekends of June and over the Sant Joan festivities, volunteers from the abertis foundation and the Red Cross handed out 774 Club TR3SC cards to drivers aged under 30 who gave a negative result at 19 breathalyser and drug controls carried out by the Mossos d’Esquadra. These drivers entered into a draw for three study trips.  55 drivers gave a positive result at the controls.

10 further Club TR3SC cards were given to cybernauts who got the best marks in the interactive game «La vida no és cap joc» (Life isn’t a game), available on the microsite http://www.etquedaunavida.com/, which was operational during the campaign. The aim of the game was to create awareness among drivers about the real dangers of bad practices at the wheel (talking on the mobile, smoking, getting distracted by the GPS, using the music system, driving under the effects of alcohol, etc.). This videogame was designed with the assessment of the Catalan Traffic Service.  

The website received 2,391 visits during the first month that it was active. The Internet action was reinforced with advertising banners on the website of the Microsoft Network (http://www.msn.cat/) and on its chat, MSN Messenger, which had 464,000 visits.

The role of a wide range of collaborators in the initiative was also notable. The Institut Guttmann, a reference centre in the rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries and/or acquired brain damage, the media of the Club TR3SC, as well as TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio, collaborated in disseminating the project. As far as external support was concerned, Barcelona City Council, Tarragona City Council, Lleida City Council and Girona City Council allowed 860 banners to be hung, free of charge, in strategic parts of the cities. The motorway concessionaries, acesa, aumar and aucat and the car park company saba (all belonging to the abertis Group) supported the action by offering advertising space.   

The “You’ve got one life left. Don’t lose it on the road” action, which the abertis foundation aims to gradually extend to other autonomous communities, is innovative and pioneering in Europe as, for the first time, it rewards good practices with the aim of reinforcing responsible attitudes among young drivers. This action, without precedents, also links driving to culture and learning and makes the most of the channels of communication that young people usually use.  

The project is part of the abertis foundation Road Safety Programme, which gives priority to educating in values and training responsible drivers and pedestrians to promote safer mobility and reduce accidents. In this sense, the Programme works in four areas; highway education at schools, promoting research into road safety, organising conferences about this matter and actions to disseminate and create awareness.

Tenth anniversary of the abertis foundation

Since 1999, the abertis foundation has been promoting research into and dissemination about the repercussion of large infrastructures on the territory, particularly on the demography, economy and environment. As one of its Corporate Social Responsibility responses, from its Foundation, abertis, a leading group in the management of infrastructures for mobility and telecommunications, promotes a far-reaching Road Safety Programme, which has as its main objectives to train responsible drivers and pedestrians and to contribute towards reducing accidents.

The «Et queda una vida. No la perdis a la carretera» (You’ve got one life left. Don’t lose it on the road) initiative is one of the main actions promoted by the abertis foundation for its 10^th anniversary.