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Global Newsletter October 2015 |
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Dear Friends and Supporters, This month we celebrated International Walk to School Day on October 7th, which affirms that children must have the basic right to walk to and from school free from road traffic danger every day. The 2015 UN Secretary-General Report: Improving global road safety, which was issued this month, mirrored this idea. The report included the recommendation that “more action needs to be undertaken to meet the goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety and the sustainable development goals to reduce deaths, in particular with regard to protecting vulnerable road users.” We are also excited to announce our work with the International Road Assessment Program to conduct road assessments of areas planned for use in a new public transportation progress in Vietnam. Together we hope to make improvements in infrastructure towards a safer road environment. Two of our television commercials promoting helmet-use have been selected to screen at the American Public Health Association Global Public Health Film Festival in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. The film festival showcased more than 115 films from over 26 countries. AIP Foundation is honored to have been selected and hopes that through this exposure we may continue spreading the message of the importance of helmet-use and its life-saving potential. Please see below to read more on AIP Foundation’s activities and achievements throughout the month. Kind regards, Mirjam Sidik
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Global |
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Vietnam |
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Cambodia |
Thailand |
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China |
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Uganda |
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Employment Opportunities
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Global |
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Photo of the month
This month, one of our supporters, Silvia Shrubsall of Matilda Bay Rotary Club’s International Service, raised awareness for our Helmets for Kids program at a fundraising event in Perth, Australia. Silvia and the Matilda Bay Rotary Club’s International Service are strong advocates of child helmet use and have raised over AU$5,000 to support our Helmets for Kids initiatives in Bangkok, Thailand Have a relevant road safety photo? Tag AIP Foundation on Facebook, Twitter, or on Instagram (@makingroadssafe) for a chance to have your photo featured here! |
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AIP Foundation television commercials selected to screen at the APHA Global Public Health Film Festival
“Love your child. Provide a helmet.” and “Protect your passengers’ lives. Make sure they wear helmets.” are the two television commercials selected by the American Public Health Association (APHA) for the 2015 APHA Global Public Health Film Festival, to be held during APHA’s Annual Meeting and Expo (Oct. 31 – Nov. 4, 2015) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The film festival showcased more than 115 films from over 26 countries, including feature films, shorts, television programs, community-made films, student films, public service announcements, and interactive media. Through the festival, the APHA aims to engage, educate, and inspire audiences on a diverse range of public health topics. For more details on the event, click here. To view all of AIP Foundation’s TVC click here. |
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A new Luc Besson film highlights the dangers children face on their commute to school
Movie director Luc Besson has joined the #SaveKidsLives campaign, directing a powerful advocacy film highlighting the dangers, poor infrastructure and inequities facing millions of children around the world in their daily journey to and from school. The film launched 7th October to coincide with and support International Walk to School Day, and to deliver the message that children must have the basic right to walk to and from school free from road traffic danger today and every day. Co-funded by the FIA and the FIA Foundation – the film illustrates the contrasts in the journey to school by children from diverse countries, and the different, but real, risks both face. The film aims to raise awareness of the 500 child deaths and many thousands of serious injuries that occur every day on the world’s roads and to encourage wider support for action to put in place measures to reduce this toll. The film asks people to sign the ‘Child Declaration for Road Safety’ of the #SaveKidsLives campaign. Since the campaign, AIP Foundation has collected more than 500,000 signatures for the #SaveKidsLives Declaration in South East Asia and China. The campaign will hold a Rally on the eve of the Brasilia Global High Level Conference on Road Safety, on 17th November, 2015. Watch and read more about the film here. Read the FIA Foundation/UNICEF report ‘Safe to Learn: Safe Journeys to School Are a Child’s Right’ |
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Opinion piece: Road Safety for Children Is Going Global
The United Nations has approved new global goals that include targets for reducing road deaths and injuries. The new Global Goals are particularly important to children, who are among the most vulnerable. Road traffic injuries are the number one killer of kids ages 5 to 19 in the U.S. and around the world. Global Goals 3 and 11 aim to change this: Goal 3 calls on the world to reduce road traffic fatalities by 50% by 2020; and Goal 11 calls for “safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety,” and demands special attention to children. Right now, more than 186,000 kids die each year on or around the roads. If Goals 3 and 11 are fully implemented, more than 93,000 can be saved per year. Safe Kids Worldwide, an AIP Foundation partner, is in the forefront of the fight to improve road safety, joining with partners like the U.S. Department of Transportation; the World Health Organization; the World Bank; Jean Todt, the UN Special Envoy for Global Road Safety; the FIA Foundation; and others to live up to the promise of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. Road crashes are an epidemic, but it is possible to implement common sense steps to improve safety. With the new Global Goals providing important targets, AIP Foundation and its partners will strive towards saving more lives. Read the rest of Kate’s article here. |
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Related research: Helmeted bicycle riders have significantly reduced severity of injury after an accident
According to researchers from the University of Arizona, Tucson, helmeted bicycle riders have reduced odds of severe traumatic brain injury after a crash compared to their non-helmeted counterparts. Their findings were presented during the 2015 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. Researchers performed an analysis using the 2012 National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) of the American College of Surgeons, analyzing records of 6,267 patients who had a traumatic brain injury after a bicycle related accident. Among the group of patients, just over 25 percent were wearing helmets. Results revealed that among the selected group of patients--those who sustained traumatic brain injury after a bicycle related accident--the ones wearing helmets had a 58% reduced odds of severe traumatic brain injury and a 59% reduced odds of death. Read more about the study and results here. |
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IRTAD 2015 annual report on Road Safety Performance
The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) has released their 2015 annual report on Road Safety. IRTAD is a permanent working group of the International Transport Forum at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is composed of road safety experts and statisticians from renowned safety research institutes, national road and transport administrations, international organizations, universities, automobile associations, the automobile industry, and others from OECD and non-OECD countries. The report provides an overview on road safety performance for 2013 in 38 member countries, with preliminary data for 2014, and detailed reports for each country. It provides detailed safety data by road user, location and age together with information on recent trends in speeding, drink-driving and other aspects of road user behavior. This is an essential tool for policymakers wishing to gain an understanding of the successes and challenges facing road safety policy from an international perspective. To download the full report click here. |
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WHO publishes Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015 this month, reflecting information from 180 countries, indicating that worldwide the total number of road deaths has plateaued at 1.25 million per year, with the highest road traffic fatality rates in low-income countries. While there has been progress towards improving road safety legislation and in making vehicles safer, the report shows that the pace of change is too slow. Urgent action is needed to achieve the ambitious target for road safety reflected in the newly adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This report is the third in the series, and provides a snapshot of the road safety situation globally, highlighting the gaps and the measures needed to best drive progress. The full report, infographics, and country specific summaries can be downloaded here. |
Vietnam |
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Johnson & Johnson donates 6,115 more helmets to 44 primary schools
With support from Johnson & Johnson, 6,115 helmets were distributed to 44 primary schools in the provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, and Dong Nai for the new school year 2015-2016, which brings the total to 9,104 donated helmets since the beginning of 2015. This is Johnson & Johnson’s fourth year of sponsoring AIP Foundation’s Helmets for Kids program. The top off ceremonies were organized by the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC), Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), AIP Foundation, and provincial and district counterparts in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, and Dong Nai, with the goal of increasing child helmet use. Additionally, students’ parents were able to buy subsidized helmets at a reduced price to replace substandard or damaged helmets. Read more about the event here. View more photos of the top-off events here. |
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AIP Foundation was trained by the International Road Assessment Programme to conduct road assessments in Vietnam
In February 2015, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam was announced to be one of Bloomberg Philanthropies' selected 10 cities and five countries to participate in a new phase of the foundation’s Global Road Safety Initiative, which aims to reduce fatalities and injuries from road crashes. With a new five-year commitment (2015-19), the program will work at both the national level and the city level to implement proven road safety interventions. As part of the initiative, the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) trained AIP Foundation to conduct assessments of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor between An Lac in the Southwest of Ho Chi Minh City to Rach Chiec in the Northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, which is being developed as part of the World Bank-financed Ho Chi Minh City Green Transport Development project. From 12 to 14 October 2015, iRAP representatives trained AIP Foundation and related stakeholders in conducting road surveys, data collection, and coding. Results from these assessments will play an essential role in making sure the BRT design is innovative and safe. Ongoing project support is underway and will continue until the end of 2016. |
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FedEx and Safe Kids Vietnam support International Walk to School Month and launch Walk With FedEx Tour
FedEx Express, in collaboration with Safe Kids Vietnam/AIP Foundation celebrated International Walk to School Month and launched this year’s Walk With FedEx Tour. The event included a parade of students and representatives walking to school to support the International Walk to School Month, which was held in parallel with walks in more than 40 countries around the world. This event also kicked off the Walk With FedEx Pedestrian Safety Tour for the 2015-2016 school year, which will bring pedestrian safety education, equipment, and materials to over 20,000 students across 18 primary schools in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City and increases awareness about pedestrian safety in the wider community. From November 2015 to May 2016, Safe Kids Vietnam/AIP Foundation will hold a school-wide Safety Day at each school to train students on pedestrian safety knowledge and skills, and encourage them to practice their newly-acquired skills in mobile traffic simulation corners. The training will be followed by a Comedy Play tour, performing “The Tortoise and the Hare”, featuring actors from Ho Chi Minh City Theater to reinforce pedestrian safety messages for students in an entertaining and fun way.increases awareness about pedestrian safety in the wider community. |
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Related News: In Vietnam, residents struggle to drive on dusty roads full of potholes
Dangerous road conditions in Vietnamese provinces often lead to road crashes. Many roads which link the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong to other provinces in the central region, including Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, and Dak Lak, are in poor condition. The National Road 55 from Lam Dong’s Bao Lam District to Binh Thuan’s Ham Thuan Bac District has worried residents for years—nearly 20 kilometers of the road are filled with potholes. Residents near the road have witnessed accidents caused by the damaged road, even seeing trucks flip over. Hoang Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Lam Dong Department of Transport, said that repairs to some damaged national roads are pending due to many reasons, such as budget constraints and harsh weather conditions. Read the full article here. |
Cambodia |
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AIP Foundation revises helmet awareness commercial to promote the new passenger helmet law
AIP Foundation held a second consultative stakeholder meeting to discuss revisions to the television commercial of the “Head Safe. Helmet On.”(HSHO) project. HSHO is a two-year project supported by the United States Agency for International Development, Development Innovation Ventures (USAID-DIV) and others, aimed to increase helmet use in Cambodia. The purpose of the meeting was to generate support and share feedback on the revised television and radio commercial message, “From January 2016, police will fine 15,000 riels for not wearing a helmet,” which will be broadcast during the project’s second year. The meeting gathered approximately 30 participants from relevant ministries and sub national level government. Among the attendees were the Secretary General of the National Road Safety Committee and the senior representative from General Commissariat of National Police. At the event, behavior change campaign materials were revised based on the recent mid-term evaluation results to better spread awareness about the upcoming passenger helmet law enforcement scheduled to begin January 1st, 2016. The Cambodia Daily shared this article about the campaign. |
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Stakeholders from across Kampong Speu Province gather to discuss passenger helmet enforcement
AIP Foundation held its second districtwide stakeholder workshops as part of the “Head Safe. Helmet On.” (HSHO) project. The purpose of the workshops is to discuss actions to support the enforcement of the passenger helmet law scheduled to begin January 1st, 2016. The workshops gathered approximately 124 participants including representatives from the private sector, the Department of Transport, the Department of Education, Youth, and Sport, the Directors of target schools, the commune chief, clerk, and council members, the District Provincial Advisor, and the media. At the meetings, stakeholders discussed the project’s recent progress, challenges faced thus far, and recommendations for the second year of the initiative. AIP Foundation received critical feedback from the community to consider for the second year of implementation. |
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AIP Foundation publishes policy brief on effective enforcement of the passenger helmet law
A new policy brief was developed to highlight the shared responsibility of government officials, family members, the community, and the private sector to ensure the fundamental rights of children by urgently enforcing the passenger helmet law, including children. Distributed to National Police representatives, National Road Safety Committee representatives, provincial governors, district police departments, commune leaders, and the private sector, this document aims to inform decision-makers about why including children in the helmet law would save more lives and lead to a culture of safe road use. Read the policy brief here. |
Thailand |
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Helmets for Kids project year comes to a close with an increase in the helmet use rate
Helmets for Kids sponsored by ARRB Group in collaboration with Rotary Matilda Bay and Rotary Sraprathum ended this month after a year of successful implementation. The project was held at Prathom Taveetha Pisek School located in Bangkok Yai District, Bangkok in a high-density traffic area. The school has 729 students and 49 teachers, of which 80% travel to and from school on bicycles or their parents’ motorcycles. Students are vulnerable to traffic crashes as they travel to and from school every day, so the project aimed to raise helmet use rates and to promote safe behaviors. Students helmet use rates increased from 11.5% to a high of 67.2 % during the project year. The results prove project intervention activities were effective in increasing the road safety knowledge and skills of students, hence encouraging them to wear helmets. |
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AIP Foundation invited to present on "Safety Education" at Rangsit University
Ratanawadee H. Winther, Chairperson of AIP Foundation Thailand, held a guest lecture on "Safety Education" for PhD students of the Education Department at Rangsit University in Bangkok. During her lecture, Mrs. Winther raised road safety awareness to create a better understanding of the necessity of public safety. She also described AIP Foundation’s work in previous years and current projects that strive to develop a road safety culture in Thailand. To see what else we are doing in Thailand, like our AIP Foundation Thailand Facebook page. |
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Related News: Thailand's roads second-deadliest in world, UN agency finds
According to a new World Health Organization survey, a lack of key safety standards and poor enforcement of laws already on the books have combined to give Thailand the second-highest road-fatality rate in the world. In its 2015 Global Status Report on Road Safety, the WHO said 14,059 people were killed on Thai roads and highways in 2012, translating to a road-death rate of 36.2 people per 100,000, a rate only surpassed by war-torn Libya, where 73.4 people per 100,000 died that same year. Thailand's traffic-death rate was only even approached by Iran (32.1 per 100,000), Togo (31.1) and nine African countries that had rates between 30 and 35. Furthermore, the WHO concluded, road fatalities in Thailand were actually far higher than reported. Based on its models, the agency estimates 24,237 people actually were killed in 2012, 42% more than stated by the Public Health Ministry. Read the full article here. |
China |
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Walk Wise Phase 3 wraps up with positive results
Walk Wise Phase 3, supported by Chevron, used four different strategies to inform students and the community about road safety and to encourage safe behaviors. A combination of school-based education, community education and public advocacy, stakeholder involvement and capacity building, and road treatments near school zones helped to foster a healthy road safety environment for students at project schools. Evaluation of Phase 3 used student surveys, focus group discussions, behavior observation, and interviews to gather data for the report, which revealed positive results. Approximately 53,650 children were directly educated on road safety in 37 primary schools for the 2014-2015 school year. Evaluation findings suggest that the program met its objective of raising road safety awareness among children and school communities. Children’s knowledge and attitude towards road safety has shown improvement in all schools that have participated in the project since 2012. Parents believe the program helped to improve the awareness, attitude, and behavior of their children on the road. Finally, surveys indicated that there has been more active participation from stakeholders, and community interest in road safety is improving. |
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Chevron and AIP Foundation organize a safe walking parade to promote road safety
AIP Foundation together with Kai County Education Committee, Kai Youth League organized the Walk Wise Phase 4 Launch ceremony at the beautiful Hanfeng Lake, Kai County, Chongqing. This is the fourth year Chevron supported Walk Wise. The event aimed to educate the community and encourage everyone to be a responsible pedestrian. At the ceremony, 20 primary school principals and safety directors took part along with students, parents and members from five communities. A walking path was set up where people could learn pedestrian and helmet safety knowledge, and play road safety activities. Students, together with our Walk Wise panda mascot studied the five steps of crossing a road: stop, look, listen, think, and walk. More than 370 people took part in the ceremony. Students from Hanfeng No.5 Primary School performed a dance on road safety. After the walk, all the principals, school safety directors, and officials attended the stakeholder meeting at Hanfeng No.9 Primary School to share and communicate road safety education and their Walk Wise project experience. At the meeting, AIP Foundation introduced the main findings of the Walk Wise phase 3 evaluations and Hanfeng No. 9 Primary School gave a report about Walk Wise and School Safety Management. |
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Walk Wise Phase 4 successfully completes teacher training workshop
AIP Foundation has successfully held teacher training workshops for Walk Wise Phase 4. 388 teachers from 20 Phase 4 project schools attended the workshops. After the training workshops, teachers understood how to use the road safety handbook and teaching materials. The training aims to help teachers feel more confident when teaching students about road safety education. At the training, 137 teachers supported the ‘Child Declaration for Road Safety’ by signing for the #SaveKidsLives campaign. |
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Related News: China suffers 250,000 road deaths a year: WHO
More than 250,000 people are killed on China’s notoriously dangerous roads every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said — over four times official government statistics. In a global status report on road safety, the WHO estimated 261,367 people were killed in 2013 in the world’s most populous country. The WHO figures are strikingly higher than official pronouncements, in a country where official statistics are often questioned. China is the world’s biggest auto market and its growing middle class is increasingly able to afford cars, but traffic regulations are often flouted which leads to increased crashes and casualties. More than one in four who died on China’s roads were pedestrians, the WHO report said, citing statistics from China’s ministry of public security. Read the full article here. |
Uganda |
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Related news: The helmet, the message, your safety: Artist Collin Sekajugo’s story
Collin Sekajugo is an artist and a social entrepreneur established both in Kigali (Rwanda) and in the Ugandan capital Kampala. Over the last eight years, he has been a visual artist in Kenya, Rwanda and later in Uganda. Since early 2013, he has invested his artistic skills into driving home an emphatic message on road safety, particularly boda boda (motorcycle) safety through the helmet. Since the beginning of 2013, he has dedicated his work to using art as a catalyst for promoting boda boda safety by which he began training a group of youth from Kamwokya and Bukoto to learn designing and decorating skills—choosing safety as an integral aspect of the designs. Sekajugo has also created “Safety Visuals” to act as backdrops for showcasing interactive images and messages about public safety and began decorating helmets that would appeal to the general public as a way of enticing boda boda users to start buying them for personal use. Given the extreme urban migration in countries like Uganda, unemployment amongst youth has led them venturing into the boda boda business. An enormous number of youth have sought refuge in operating these dangerous commuter carriers, thus fatalities on Ugandan roads have continued to rise. Read more about this entrepreneur and the impact he is making here. |
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