HO CHI MINH City, Vietnam - January 5, 2012

On January 5th, Ho Chi Minh City’s Pham Van Chieu Primary School received a donation of 1870 helmets from United Parcel Service (UPS), a sponsor well aware of the holiday’s impact on road conditions. The donation, part of a school-based helmet education program called Helmets for Kids,was implemented by the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation with the collaboration of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Education and Training (DOET) and Traffic Safety Committee (TSC).

A Helmet Handover Ceremony allowed the government officials involved, school representatives, police forces, and Mr. Jeff McLean from UPS to remind parents, students, and teachers why helmet wearing is so important. Volunteers from UPS staff came to the school themselves to provide children with life-saving road safety knowledge. Helmet wearing at Pham Van Chieu Primary school was typically very low, and this event made helmets appear fun, socially required, which will hopefully increase the students’ usage on a daily basis. Indeed, the students attentively watched the performances and proudly showed off their new helmets and traffic safety knowledge.

Of equal importance was the education of the adults in attendance, who play a significant role in ensuring that young children wear helmets every day. Parents association representatives and teachers were given the opportunity to hear from road safety specialists and stakeholders, in order to understand how best to protect the children in their care. UPS sponsored the training of the schools’ teachers so that they would be able to teach their students how to wear a helmet correctly, and encourage this behavior each day.