HO CHI MINH City, Vietnam - January 5, 2017

Helmets for Families, supported by Abbott, is expanding its road safety education to four new schools in the Hoc Mon District of Ho Chi Minh City, a suburban and agricultural zone where up to 90% of the participating students’ parents are manual laborers. This year, Helmets for Families will continue its work toward increasing road safety literacy and safe behaviors amongst Vietnamese families by distributing more than 4,700 high quality helmets to students and teachers, and exchanging nearly 900 subsidized helmets to parents in Hoc Mon District and at two schools in Hanoi.

The program hosted its 2016-2017 school year kick-off event at Nhi Xuan Primary School in the Hoc Mon District. Nearly 1,000 students, teachers, and parents attended the ceremony. They were joined by representatives from Abbott, as well as officials from the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Safety Committee, Department of Education and Training, Traffic Police, and local authorities.

A pre-project survey revealed that 76.3% of the students at program schools in Hoc Mon District commute to and from school by riding on their parents’ motorcycles. The average student helmet-wearing rate at these schools is about 30%, well below the Ho Chi Minh City average of 48%. Only 1.3% of parents surveyed had the correct knowledge of what makes a high quality helmet.