Russia Launches ‘Safety Selfie’ Campaign Following Hundreds of Deaths and Injuries

We recently wrote about multiple fatal selfie incidents and it seems that the problem has reached large enough proportions to warrant government action.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched a new campaign yesterday intended to keep its citizens out of harm’s way, and by that I mean getting themselves killed or injured while snapping a selfie.

Pointing out that health and life are worth more than a “million likes on social networks”, the ministry created a brochure that will be shared and handed out to citizens – especially students and young people.

Sadly, many of the warnings are based on actual incidents.

“With all the advantages of the modern world, new threats appear. We want to remind citizens that the pursuit of “likes” in social networks can lead to the road of death”, said the assistant minister of Internal Affairs, lieutenant colonel of police Elena Alekseeva, in a press release.

The government intervention comes after at least 100 people in Russia alone have been injured since the beginning of the year while taking selfies and at least ten cases where the self portrait proved to be fatal.

Some of the selfies the MIA warns about in its brochure are rooftop selfies, selfies with guns, selfies in front of trains or on train tracks and selfies with wild animals.

As mentioned, these warnings weren’t made up in a clerk’s imaginative mind; just this May a young woman from Moscow accidently shot herself in the head while taking a selfie.

The same month a teenager in Romania died while trying to take a “special selfie” on a train’s roof and a Singaporean selfie-fan fell off a cliff near Bali.

In addition to warning the public about not paying attention to the surroundings, losing balance and having a false sense of security while taking selfies, the MIA also created a section on its website where people are welcome to submit their own warning signs.

Below you can read message posted on the MIA’s website (translated by Google):

Your health and your life more million likes on social networks!

Russian Interior Ministry concerned about the increasing incidence of trauma and even death when trying to make a unique self. Each of these cases can be prevented. To this end, the Russian Interior Ministry  memo created “Safe Self”, designed to draw attention, first of all young people to this problem. We have tried to visualize, in the form of icons, represent the most traumatic cases the creation of self, thus to warn citizens against undue risk for a memorable picture.

When a person is trying to take a picture of himself – he scattered attention, he lost his balance, he does not look around and did not feel in danger. Do Self, making sure that you are in a safe place and your life is not in danger!

We hope that our initiative will support in all regions, support the young people, adults and children.

We offer you to participate together with the Ministry of Interior of Russia in this endeavor, and his version of SEND  Memo “Safe Self” think of cautionary icon.

A full-size PDF of the brochure can be downloaded here.

[via Channel 2 News]