Give a Vietnamese child a helmet; save a life

In the last quarter, AIP Foundation has built on the progress of our school zone safety efforts and the impact of our helmet distribution projects in numerous schools across provinces in Vietnam. We have seen decreases in reported student crashes and reductions in the average speed of drivers in school zones near project schools, coupled with measured increases in helmet wearing rates across schoolchildren that we have worked with. Read more about our progress and indicators below.

Vietnam's first school zone speed reduction program observes one year of success

19 June, 2019 - Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province, Vietnam

Raoul Powlowski of the Global Road Safety Partnership symbolically providing Mr. Luu Dinh Canh of the Pleiku Police with a speed gun to assist with enforcement

AIP Foundation collaborated with the Gia Lai National Traffic Safety Committee to host a midterm review workshop in Pleiku City for Slow Zones, Safe Zones, the first-ever pilot program to reduce speed in school zones in Vietnam, supported by Fondation Botnar and the Global Road Safety Partnership. The program focuses on speed reduction and school zone safety through the construction of tailored school-zone modifications like speed bumps, road markings, speed reduction signs, and sidewalks. Additional program components include increased law enforcement, road safety public awareness campaign to promote positive road user behavior, and the development and testing of a nationally applicable road safety e-curriculum.

The program has seen great success in speed reduction so far including a reduction of speed to 40 km/h on national roads running past Nguyen Luong Bang Primary School and 30 km/h on provincial roads running past Phan Dang Luu Primary School. After one year of implementation, AIP Foundation found that parent knowledge of current speed limit and other traffic issues increased from 15.6% to 62.4%. The average speed of drivers around school zones in Pleiku reduced around 10 km/h for motorcycles and 15-20 km/h for cars, buses, and trucks. Reported student crashes fell from 25.3% to 7.4% The percentage of students hurt in road crashes near program schools in Pleiku also fell to 69% from 88.3%. 

AIP Foundation hosted an experience sharing workshop with two other Foundation Botnar and Global Road Safety Partnership grantees, Save the Children and Plan International. The workshop concluded with site visits to the two program schools. Next program steps include advocating for continued police enforcement and advocating for continued speed reduction legislation.

Please see more photos from our launch here 

Over twenty program schools reflect on successful Helmets for Kids 2018-2019 program

May 31, 2019

Teachers, government representatives, parents and students come together to learn from this year’s program.

AIP Foundation coordinated with Gia Lai Traffic Safety Committee organized a 2018-2019 school year Helmets For Kids review workshop for nearly 100 people, including Mr. Le Van Hanh, a representative from the Gia Lai Traffic Safety Committee and other representatives from Gia Lai Department of Education and Training, Board of Education and Training, teachers, parents, and students. Helmets For Kids is supported by long-time partner Johnson & Johnson. After three successful years of program implementation in the province, general helmet wearing rates in the province remains high at nearly 95% – marking the overall effectiveness of the program. The Gia Lai Traffic Safety Committee and AIP Foundation presented all 12 program schools with awards for their excellent job protecting their students and school community this year. AIP Foundation also conducted an orientation and teacher training workshop for representatives from three new program schools. Staff from these new schools were introduced to the program, trained on how to use program guideline and shown how to measure children’s heads to choose correct helmet size and fit.

Following the workshops in Gia Lai, a review and orientation workshop was held in Thai Nguyen with more than 60 participants from the Provincial Traffic Safety Committee, Department of Education and Training, school boards, and parents. After one year of implementation at Helmets For Kids schools, the helmet wearing rate of Thai Nguyen has increased from 8% to 93%. During the 2019-2020 school year four new schools will join the program together with four existing schools, increasing the total number of program schools in Thai Nguyen to eight this year. AIP Foundation also held eleven successful reflection workshops in Quang Nam and Yen Bai, marking five and three years of impactful program implementation respectively. In general, the helmet wearing rate in Yen Bai and Quang Nam has remained above 95%. In addition to the review workshop, activities in Quang Nam included a “Traffic Culture for Children” day.