YEN BAI Province, Vietnam – November 4, 2024

In April 2024, the official Safe School Zones Guide Vietnam (SSZ Guide) was launched globally and brought with it the opportunity for implementing safe school zones for students across Vietnam. This November, AIP Foundation, a non-profit advocating for safe, equitable, and sustainable mobility in the region, together with Boeing launched the Building Safer Journeys to School for Youth program to safeguard students on their way to and from schools in Vietnam.

The SSZ Guide was applied in Yen Bai province with Boeing’s support. Together with AIP Foundation and the Yen Bai Traffic Safety Committee, school zone modifications were implemented at Ly Thuong Kiet High School.

Ly Thuong Kiet High School is located in a traffic-dense area, where students often share the road with speeding and dangerous trucks. Students are often at risk while traveling to and from school on e-bikes and bicycles with their families. Young people from the school often lack access to safe and sustainable journeys to school.

To celebrate the completion of the school zone modifications, a handover ceremony and Road Safety Day were hosted at Ly Thuong Kiet high school, attended by Mr. Michael Vu Nguyen, Managing Director, Boeing Vietnam, Mr. Dao Ngoc Hung, Deputy Director of Yen Bai Department of Transport and Mr. Phong Le, Country Manager for Vietnam at AIP Foundation. Following speeches from key representatives, students had an opportunity to share their thoughts and reflections on the new modifications while participating in immersive road safety games at their school.

SSZ Guide in Practice: Safety Modifications in Yen Bai

Ly Thuong Kiet High School was identified as high-risk following a Star Ratings for Schools Assessment (SR4S). The pre-modification results showed that Ly Thuong Kiet High School requires critical safety upgrades receiving a 1-star rating using the SR4S methodology (with 1 being the lowest and least safe rating and 5 being the safest). After the modifications, the school zone safety was upgraded to 3.6 stars contributing to iRAP’s mission of a world where every road is 3 stars or better.

The modifications around Ly Thuong Kiet High School represent the start of a series of life-saving actions to improve commuting safety for the thousands of students, parents, teachers, and community members that travel to and from school daily. The modifications include crosswalks, rumble strips, steel railings to restrain parked vehicles, road signs, speed limit signs of 30km/h and road markings.

The improved school zone modifications also encourage students to walk and ride their bicycles to school, paving the way for healthier and greener transportation. For students in Yen Bai, these modifications will not only safeguard them on their commutes to school but will also ensure that all students have safe and equitable access to education and life opportunities.

“Boeing is dedicated to making a positive impact in the communities in Vietnam,” said Michael Vu Nguyen, country managing director, Boeing Vietnam. “The handover of the school zone modifications to Ly Thuong Kiet High School today marks an important step in investing in safety infrastructure to protect the well-being of students, teachers and their families.”

Safe School Zones Guide: Vietnam: Paving the way to safer streets for all students in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, over 17 million children commute between home and school 2-4 times daily. Many children share the road with speeding trucks, with no sidewalks to walk on going to school. Alarmingly, traffic speeds around schools frequently and significantly exceed internationally recommended school zones’ speed limits. To safeguard the lives of young students on their journeys to school, AIP Foundation, in partnership with the FIA Foundation, developed the SSZ Guide.

Two years in the making, this SSZ Guide is a reliable blueprint for urban planners, engineers, and policymakers to address the safe mobility issue around schools across the country on a larger scale. Earlier this year marked the first time that the SSZ Guide was officially handed over to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The SSZ Guide aims to provide a policy and procedure framework for safe school zones to be constructed and implemented around the country.

“We are so proud to collaborate with the government of Vietnam to guarantee the right of every student to travel to and from school safely. The Safe School Zones Guidemarks a monumental shift toward safeguarding future generations, and we are excited to see it being put into real action today in Yen Bai province, with generous support from Boeing,” says Greig Craft, Founder and President of AIP Foundation.