Give a Vietnamese child a helmet; save a life

After helmets are donated: following up with student and teacher crash cases

During August and September we revisited 32 Helmets for Kids project schools in the Ha Tinh, Dong Nai, and Quang Binh provinces of Vietnam to check on helmet use rates follow-up with road safety education. During these visits, we were told of 30 incidents of students (and 1 teacher) of project schools being involved in traffic crashes. In all 30 crashes there was not a single head injury- every individual walked away from the scene thanks to the helmet they received as a donation.  

As much as we love children’s excitement and joy at receiving helmet donations, seeing them continue to wear their helmets throughout the year and learning about instances that these helmets saved their lives never fails to move us.

Here are a few of their stories:

On September 14^th, fourth grader Pham Minh Thuan was riding on a motorcycle with his sister near their home when another motorcyclist collided into them and they fell into the street.  Thuan sustained some scratches on his arm but no head injury thanks to the helmet he received as a donation. 

On August 26^th, third grader Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung was riding her bicycle to school when she collided with another bicyclist and fell down onto the sidewalk. Her head hit the pavement but she was not seriously injured because she was wearing the helmet she received as a donation. Dung walked away from the accident with a few scratches and made it to school.

Second grader Phan Thi Khanh Linh was riding home from the park by motorcycle with her mother. A dog ran into their path and they were unable to avoid it. Linh fell off of the motorcycle and sprained her ankle. Thanks to the helmet she was wearing, she did not sustain a serious injury.

This July, Nguyen Thanh Huong, teacher at So 1 Thach Ha primary school in Ha Tinh, was travelling home to her village when she collided with a motorcyclist driving the wrong way down a one-way street. She fell from her motorcycle with such force that the hard shell of her helmet was broken. The helmet she received as a donation absorbed the full impact of the collision, and she walked away from the crash with only a few scratches on her arm.

These are just a few stories we collected. The helmets we donate always come with a lesson in traffic safety, and we hope that these lessons prevent most of our target population from even being involved in crashes to begin with.

In addition to providing helmets to students and teachers, we are expanding to donate helmets to as many mothers as we can. 

The week of May 6 to 12 marked the United Nations’ second Global Road Safety Week where events were held around the world to make roads safer. AIP Foundation participated in this movement by organizing activities across Vietnam. In Ho Chi Minh City, we held an exhibition opening and public event for our pedestrian campaign with Safe Kids Worldwide, which featured a photo contest for secondary students. More than 1,000 young people, volunteers, local and national government officials, popular Vietnamese celebrities, and community members attended. The event concluded with a Long Short Walk led by the Chief Secretariat of National Traffic Safety Committee where participants marched through main downtown streets to express a collective desire for more sidewalks, improved traffic signals, and other measures to make pedestrians safer. Advocacy for pedestrian safety is important, as pedestrians make up nearly one quarter of traffic fatalities. A post-evaluation of the event revealed that 86 percent of student participants reported enjoying the games we set-up, and many were able to recall the road safety messages featured.

We kicked-off the Week in Hanoi with a family event, which combined activities to improve child helmet use, as part of our ongoing campaign, with a Long Short Walk. We also hosted walks during April in Ha Tinh Province and in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City.

The second phase evaluation results of our three-year national public awareness campaign “Children also need a helmet” showed dramatic increases in children wearing helmets nationwide. Since baseline research was conducted in September 2012, child helmet use has risen from 17 to 47 percent across our three target cities of Hanoi, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City. The results in Hanoi were particularly impressive, with helmet use rising from 9 to 53 percent. However, there is still more work to be done to encourage all children aged 6-14 to wear helmets. AIP Foundation continues to promote the campaign at public events, on social media, and with TV and outdoor advertisements. We have also enhanced police enforcement and called to local partners for support.

As part of our efforts to increase the number of children wearing helmets in Vietnam, we have solicited pledges from Vietnamese parents to commit to putting helmets on their children. Between January and June 2013, 175,000 parents signed a commitment to put helmets on their children using Facebook, the campaign website, and direct flyer distribution at information sessions.

As the school vacations commence and our project cycle winds down, our team is spending time mapping out the next steps in each of our initiatives to increase child helmet rates in Vietnam.