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By Nguyen Kim Ngan, World Vision Vietnam communications
Because Vietnam witnesses so many traffic accidents every day, children should understand about traffic safety so as to prevent themselves from such accidents. This is the theme of a competition on traffic safety organized by World Vision in cooperation with local schools in Hai Lang District, Quang Tri Province on September 29.
A total of 150 participants, who are members of children clubs, showed their understanding about road and railway traffic, traffic safety and the cause of accidents through a number of activities such as quizzes, presentations and plays.
In response to the Traffic Safety Month launched by the government in September, the competition helped children raise their awareness about road and railway accidents, and become trainers on the topics for their families and friends.
Traffic accident is one of the biggest concerns of Vietnam’s government. According to the government’s statistics, 7,494 accidents in the first seven months of this year killed 6,844 and injured 4,902 people. On average, the country witnessed 32 people die of traffic accident and 23 injuries a day.
“Since attending the competition, we understand more about traffic safety. For example, both we and younger students now know what we should do when seeing a broken railway or what several kinds of road traffic signs indicate,” said Nguyen Thi Y Nhi, who is a student of Grade 8 and a member of children club at her school in Hai Truong Commune.
“I myself will follow regulations of traffic safety strictly such as walking on the right side of the road and not cycling the wrong way on a one-way road. I’ll also talk with my friends about such knowledge I learnt at the competition.”
The event was among activities of the Child Participation Project which has been implemented by World Vision’s Hai Lang Area Development Program (ADP) since October 2007.
Under the project, 24 children clubs have been established in Hai Lang with an aim to raise their voice in their community. The number of the clubs is expected to increase to 70 in a couple of years.
The Asian Development Bank estimates a staggering yearly economic loss of US$885 million from road traffic accidents in Vietnam alone. Unless action is taken, the number of road traffic injuries and deaths is likely to get worse in most regions of the world as motorization increases; road traffic injuries are predicted to be the eighth leading cause of death by 2030.
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