Gaoqiao, China - May 8, 2014

Chevron and Asia Injury Prevention Foundation organized a road safety “theme park” at Gaoqiao Middle School on May 8thto celebrate Community Road Safety Week and promote smart road user behavior among children and families of the Gaoqiao community. More than 1,200 people attended the event on Thursday.

The first half of the event took place on stage, and consisted of road safety-themed performances by students from local schools, road safety games, an educational video with an interactive Q&A for the audience, and speeches from the local government, Chevron, and AIP Foundation. The second half of the event took the form of a community “theme park,” in which booths were set up around the school to teach important road safety skills to children and families in the community. The booths were run by prominent members of the community, including the Gaoqiao police, Chevron, primary and middle schools in the area, and AIP Foundation. Attendees played fun and educational activities at the booths, such as traffic sign matching games, and received giveaways including t-shirts and reflective caps which improve pedestrian visibility on the roads.

“Every year, 1.3 million people die from road traffic crashes around the world. In fact, road crashes have become the number one killer of young people,” said Mr. Luo Bin, Vice Mayor of Gaoqiao township. “We really need programs like this one to educate our students and our community about road safety. Thank you to AIP Foundation and Chevron for helping create a safe traffic environment for our children and families.”

The road safety “theme park” on Thursday is part of a multi-year project sponsored by Chevron to promote road safety education in Sichuan and Chongqinq provinces. The project, titledWalk Wise, specifically targets children, who are the most vulnerable of all road users, and works to establish road safety education curricula in schools alongside other road safety-themed activities in the community. TheWalk Wiseproject began in 2012, and has since implemented road safety curricula in 18 primary schools. By 2017, theWalk Wiseproject will expand to reach 80 schools in the region.

“Walk Wiseis the best community project in Chevron’s portfolio, and we are very proud to be a part of it. For Chevron, safety and care for the community we work in is absolutely critical,” said Bill Koetzle, Manager of Chevron Asia South. “It has been a pleasure to work with AIP Foundation and our local partners to bring road safety education to children and the community of the CDB gas project area.”

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