On October 18, 2012, FedEx Express and the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation launched a Safe Kids Vietnam Model School Zone at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Primary School, marking their continuing commitment to improve pedestrian safety in Dong Nai Province. The event was successfully organized with the representatives of FedEx, Dong Nai Traffic Safety Committee, Department of Education and Training, Traffic Police, teachers, students, parents, media, and four FedEx volunteers.

The Model School Zone project trains students and teachers to be safer, smarter pedestrians, provides more than 600 reflective jackets, and installs rubble strips, crosswalks, speed limits, traffic lights, a new sidewalk, and drainage coverage. Traffic police and commune public security officers are also patrolling the area and reminding drivers to be cautious.

These interventions address the risks that students face en route to school, due to the uncovered drain system running along the school gate and lack of safe sidewalks and crosswalks, forcing students to walk in the road with high traffic volume. According to 2011 baseline study, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai students are at serious risk of being involved in a road traffic crash near the school. A high percentage of students commute by foot, but the environmental infrastructure neither provides sufficient safety for the students to cross the road nor to walk safely on the sidewalk along the road. 16.1 percent of students have already been hit by vehicle while walking around the school.

This pilot will serve as an example to other schools, governments and organizations working to improve safety by demonstrating the importance of identifying environmental and behavioral risks, the effectiveness of the interventions, and the value of data aggregation and analysis.

Read the press release in English and Vietnamese, check out photos, and see this event in the news here and here!