Vietnam - April 9, 2020

The International Road Safety Assessment Programme (iRAP), a technology non-profit that creates virtual tools for road safety interventions worldwide, hosted a series of virtual trainings on how to utilize their evidence-based, digital approach to prevent unnecessary deaths and suffering. As their lead partner for Vietnam, AIP Foundation has greatly benefitted from iRAP’s Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) mobile application to inform road modification recommendations and evaluate post-intervention impact. SR4S helps rate the risks and safety of roads on a 1-star (least safe) to 5-star (safest) scale. This tool not only ensures road modifications address the specific needs of a school, but helps AIP Foundation make the case to government bodies in Vietnam that infrastructure modifications are a sound investment that save lives and unlock the benefits to families, communities, business and health systems through reduced road trauma.

For iRAP’s online training series on the Star Ratings for Schools application, AIP Foundation was asked to share a case study of our successful use of the tool for the technical officers, engineers, and road safety advocates attending the course. AIP Foundation Program Assistant Ms. Quyen Bui presented an in-depth look at our use of the SR4S tool in projects like Slow Zones, Safe Zones in Pleiku City (Gia Lai Province) and Walk This Way in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Through these programs, 39 primary schools have been assessed, and 6 primary schools—deemed the most high-risk—received comprehensive road modifications, such as: sidewalks, yellow warning lights, refuge islands, school zone signs, pedestrian crossing signs, slow down markings, and raised crosswalks to reduce speed of passing vehicles. As a result, all program schools increased their safety rating by at least 2 stars, and all schools achieved a 3-star rating or higher. In her presentation of this case study, Ms. Bui emphasized that these speed-reducing road modifications were able to achieve effective results because they were deployed in tandem with in-school road safety education and a community-wide public awareness campaign. Ms. Bui noted, “I was very honored to represent AIP, and present our achievement with the Star Rating For Schools app to every participant of the course.” These schools serve as a model to visualize what a standardized school zone might look like for Vietnam.