When fifth grader Thao was being driven home from school on her older brother’s motorcycle, they crashed into a fence and fell off. Thao was hospitalized. The doctor diagnosed a brain hematoma along with Thao’s many scratches, but she is now recovering well. Luckily, Thao was wearing a helmet that she received through AIP Foundation's Helmets for Kids program. The doctor told Thao’s mother that the helmet saved the young girl’s life.
As Thao's situation proved, wearing a helmet can mean the difference between life and death, which is why we continue to not only donate helmets to children, but to teach them how and why to use them.
In May, with helmet manufacturer Long Huei's generous sponsorship, 1,505 helmets were donated to students at a primary school in District 12 of Ho Chi Minh City. Like at so many other schools, before the donation almost no students wore helmets on their way to school. This donation has provided the students with the equipment and knowledge necessary to become much safer on the road.
Also be sure to watch our new television commercial promoting child helmet use, which will start airing soon in Vietnam!
Driving Skills for Life is making excellent progress across the Asia Pacific and Africa region. So far we've trained 50,000 people, and we aim to train another 12,000 people this year.
Over the past several months, some of the most exciting work has been in China. In May, following a two-day Train-the-Trainer refresher program in Shanghai (the final leg of the regional program), Ford employees were given the opportunity to join a DSFL training session conducted by two South African professional instructors.
The half-day special event attracted more than 25 employees. Derek Kirkby, projects manager and Eugene Herbert, group managing director from the South Africa RAC Group, shared useful tips and techniques on safe and fuel-efficient driving.
Kirkby and Herbert went through the top 10 tips, which covered the most important elements leading to good driving habits, such as wearing safety belts, avoiding distraction while driving, and using the vehicle momentum to save fuel. Drawing on personal experiences and various real-case scenarios, the trainers made the presentation fun and easy to understand.
"If you keep these tips in mind and put them into practice everyday, by the end of the month you will have more money left in your pocket for shopping. I guess that is one of the motivators for you to carry on," said Herbert.
Tips shared during the one-hour presentation resonated well with participants. The trainers took the participants through a brief in-car training session designed to show the stopping distance of a car when it travels between 40km/h and 60 km/h.
"One of the 10 tips I learned is to always maintain a three second safety distance. Most people think it is easy but sometimes we fail to do so. At the presentation, RAC trainers also advised us to turn off the engine while waiting for long traffic lights, which can help to lower fuel consumption. I used to think that will damage the engine but it turned out to be a myth," said Lily Gu, an IT Planning Specialist from Ford APA.
Gu has 6 months driving experience and believes the DSFL session is a great way to promote good driving practices.
Thank you for donating to the project, "Make Child Helmets the Norm in Vietnam." We will soon be deactivating this project because of corporate and foundation support we have received for the public awareness campaign promoting child helmet us in Vietnam. We wanted to give you one more update on the impact of your donation before removing the project from Global Giving.
AIP Foundation launched our three-year public awareness campaign in 2011, and with your help it has progressed spectacularly. At the end of 2011, tens of thousands of flyers were handed out at public areas dispeling myths that keep many parents from putting helmets on their children. Workshops were held to engage parents and numerous other stakeholders from the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. Soon, AIP Foundation and the World Health Organization will team up with local authorities on stronger enforcement of the requirement for all children over 6 years of age to wear a helmet.
With the sight of helmet-less children still all too common, AIP Foundation will soon begin airing its newly produced television commercial entitled "When I Grow Up." A national communications campaign will accompany the TV spot, with billboards, social media, talk shows, and public events serving as other outlets for changing behavior.
With strong corporation and foundation support for the campaign, we decided to close down this Global Giving project and focus our online fundraising efforts on our other Global Giving project: "Give a Vietnamese Child a Helmet; Save a Life." The money donated towards that project goes towards donating helmets to children and educating them about safe road behavior.
We are grateful for your commitment to the important cause of road safety in Vietnam and encourage you to follow the progress of our campaign and other programs at www.asiainjury.org. Also, please share the link to our Global Giving project with your friends and family. On June 13, Global Giving will be holdnig a bonus day and each donation to our project will be matched at 40%. Donate then and help children become safer on the roads!
