HA NOI, Vietnam - December 15, 2017

AIP Foundation and FIA Foundation celebrated a “Fun with Traffic Safety” extracurricular day to mark the tenth anniversary of Vietnam’s national helmet law today. Over 1,000 students, teachers, and staff joined distinguished guests and participants for a day full of extracurricular activities at Tien Phong Primary School, located in a suburb of Hanoi, to commemorate the anniversary of the law.

The event included exciting road safety-related activities for students at Tien Phong Primary School, including a helmet handover, helmet sculpture painting, a helmet wearing contest, and a special performance by the National Vietnam Circus. The students participated in a flash mob dance to celebrate. Since implementing the national helmet law, Vietnam has saved an estimated $3.5 billion USD in medical costs and lost output, and an estimated 500,000 head injuries and 15,000 fatalities have been prevented.

Attendees also marked ten years of the national helmet law by looking to the past and acknowledging those who had provided crucial support.

“On 15 December, 2007, Vietnam saw an immediate change in helmet use overnight thanks to well-coordinated efforts by multiple stakeholders and a highly effective public awareness campaign,” said Saul Billingsley, Executive Director of the FIA Foundation.

The Vietnam Helmet Wearing Coalition (VHWC) received special recognition for their contributions to building support for the law and pushing it to the forefront of public discourse. The VHWC, led by AIP Foundation, provided funding and in-kind support for a landmark public awareness campaign, Wear a helmet. There are no excuses., prior to the passage of the national helmet law. This campaign, supported by the Vietnamese government, is frequently cited as one of the influential factors in the enactment of the national helmet law.