In March 2019, the Belarusian Autoi Moto Touring Club launched the project “Road Safety Without Measures”, dedicated to creating a barrier-free communication environment for people with disabilities.
One of the goals of the project was to translate official road safety texts into the plain language to make them more understandable for people with mental disabilities.”Plain language” is a language available to people who have difficulty in reading and understanding the texts. It has a shortened dictionary, simplified structure of statements, and the text is written and placed according to certain rules. Images which are called pictograms are used alongside with the text.
Within the project, the BKA together with the non-governmental organization “Belarusian association for assistance to disabled children and young people with disabilities” translated the rights and obligations of pedestrians into the plain language. It is impossible to develop documents, symbols, and literature in the “plain language” without the direct participation of those for whom it is intended. That is why a special group of estimators from among people with disabilities who already had had such experience was engaged in translating road safety information for the project into the plain language. Before processing the text of the rules, the selected group of estimators checked whether they correctly understood the road traffic information together with the representatives of the Road Traffic Police at the sessions on August 7, which was held in the Frunzensky district of Minsk. Traffic police officers together with young people with disabilities walked through the streets of Minsk, and used practical examples to understand the complicated abstracts in the text of the rules and obligations of pedestrians.
We are happy to announce that the rules and responsibilities of pedestrians in plain language are available following the link:
Правила и обязанности пешеходов
Using the plain language, people with disabilities can access any information, including road traffic rules, in accordance with article 9 of the CПравила и обязанности пешеходовonvention on the rights of persons with disabilities. It should be noted that the plain language can be useful not only for people with disabilities, but also for the elderly, children, and foreign citizens who are located on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.