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HFK Little Sheriff Road Show

Hanoi, May 15, 2009 - Road traffic accidents are a major cause of death and disability amongst children in Vietnam. Under the "Helmets for Kids on Highway 1" program that targets nine provinces along Vietnam’s busy National Highway 1, Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation) in coordination with the Vietnam Helmet Wearing Coalition (VHWC) have donated more than 10,000 helmets and 150,000 posters and flyers in an effort to combat the low helmet use rates of children. The initiative started in March and ends today with a donation of 1,105 helmets to Dich Vong B Primary School in Hanoi. The Helmets for Kids ceremony will precede a roadshow which will proceed through major streets of Hanoi, leading to highway 1 and ending in the city center.

All the schools are located in the dangerous traffic zones in provinces of Ca Mau, Long An, Ninh Thuan, Da Nang, Hue, Binh Thuan, Quang Binh provinces as well as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City where many of the recorded injuries have been related to head trauma. During the 2007-08 school year, for example, Binh Thuan Province lost 17 pupils and the Quang Binh Province saw 65 primary school children sustain serious head injury, all as a result of road traffic accidents. High helmet use rates have been recognized as one of the leading causes for the decline in road traffic fatalities and injuries in 2008 compared to 2007. According to data gathered from the National Traffic Safety Committee there was a 24% and a 12% reduction in injuries and fatalities, respectively.

VHWC members have successfully advocated for a strengthening of Vietnam’s helmet law to penalize drivers who transport children under 16 years of age without a helmet. The government recently announced it will be enforcing such a change from July 1, 2009.

Australian Ambassador Allaster Cox, a member of the VHWC, said: "Worldwide, a child is killed or maimed on the roads every thirty seconds. We must pay particular attention to vulnerable road users like children, who are in great danger while going to their schools everyday.

Vice-Minister of Ministry of Transportation said: "Children are the easiest people to get hurt when participating in traffic. Parents should be the ones who guide them to be aware of obeying the traffic law through wearing helmets to avoid serious injury from traffic accidents."

To increase appeal to young people, AIP Foundation recently introduced the comic character Bim, also called Little Sheriff, as Goodwill Ambassador. Posters, billboards and comic booklets showing Bim and his friends with helmets were distributed in all nine provinces during the ceremonies, as well as being present at today’s ceremony.

Vice-Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien said: "The comic booklets are a fun and innovative way to connect to our young people, who so need the knowledge of road traffic safety in order to be able keep themselves safe."

US Ambassador Michael W. Michalak said: "We are very proud of the support we have been able to contribute to the Government of Vietnam in improving the safety of Vietnam's children, and I applaud the continued strides the Government is taking. The Helmets for Kids donation today continues the progress towards all Vietnamese children riding with a protective helmet on motorbikes."

AIP Foundation President Greig Craft said: "We have travelled through Vietnam to schools along Highway 1 this past month to teach children about traffic safety and provide them with motorbike helmets. Highway 1 is a corridor of economic activity and represents the growth that Vietnam has achieved and will continue to achieve, but it does not need to come at the cost of children's lives. AIP Foundation will work continuously to be able to help every child be ‘vaccinated’ against brain injury, with a helmet."