PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - December 24, 2019

Nearly 720 primary school students and teachers at Chbar Amov 2 and Wat Mongkol Serei Kean Kleang Primary School in Phnom Penh received quality helmets and were encouraged to wear them as part of their school uniforms during the Safety Delivered 2019 kick-off event, implemented by AIP Foundation and supported by The UPS Foundation. The event aims to inspire young students to be role models in their community by promoting helmet use. Over the course of the 2019-2020 program, The UPS Foundation will donate more than 2,000 helmets to primary schools located in high-risk communities.

“Since we have the passenger helmet law in place, we began enforcement of the mandatory passenger helmet law nationwide,” Mr. Chan Buntheurn, Commune Chief of Traffic Police of Chroy Changvar Commune, said. “Since then, we have seen a dramatic increase in safer road behaviors in our community. It’s programs like Safety Delivered which complement our robust law enforcement efforts, and inspire us to continue pushing toward our goal of halving Cambodia’s road crash deaths by 2020.”

Chbar Ampov 2 and Wat Mongkol Serei Kean Kleang Primary School are located on busy, national roads. In 2017, at least two students from these schools were reported to have passed away due to a road crash. Tragically, one of those students was not wearing a helmet when his father was driving him home from school, suffering a fatal head injury caused by a motorcycle crash. Currently in Cambodia, 80% of students commute to school by motorcycles and bicycles though only about 1% wear helmets.

In addition to receiving helmets, students and their teachers also participated in educational activities during the event to learn more about road crash prevention. The program also engages parents to positively influence and promote safe behaviors among students. “Children are our most valuable asset and our society, but they are also a vulnerable group. We are committed to working with our parents,” said Phan Sokheayayy, Director of Wat Mongkol Serei Kean Khleang Primary School.