Road safety program provides low-income and agricultural families with 5,600 helmets

The program hosted its 2016-2017 school year kick-off event at Nhi Xuan Primary School in the Hoc Mon District, January 5, 2017. Nearly 1,000 students, teachers, and parents attended the ceremony. They were joined by representatives from Abbott, as well as officials from the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Safety Committee, Department of Education and Training, Traffic Police, and local authorities.

This year, Helmets for Families will continue its work toward increasing road safety literacy and safe behaviors amongst Vietnamese families by distributing more than 4,700 high quality helmets to students and teachers, and exchanging nearly 900 subsidized helmets to parents in Hoc Mon District and at two schools in Ha Noi.

“Students in the Hoc Mon District of our city are extremely vulnerable to road crashes because of the heavy industrial traffic in the neighboring Tan Phu Trung area,” Mr. Nguyen Minh, Head of Student Affairs of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said. “We hope that this program will continue to educate our citizens about the importance of wearing high quality helmets.”

AIP Foundation identified the new program schools based on parent survey data, the campuses’ proximities to industrial zones, and a strong commitment from school administrators, among other criteria.

“Due to a lack of education and awareness, so many students and parents don’t know how important it is to wear a good helmet,” Mirjam Sidik, CEO of AIP Foundation, said. “Since 2013, Helmets for Families has raised helmet wearing rates at some project schools from as low as 9.5% to more than 80%. I am confident that through continued collaboration we can champion even more positive changes.”