Vietnam - April 20, 2018

UPS volunteers in Ho Chi Minh City played a key role at our ‘Safe Style Fashion Show,’ sitting on the judges panel and supporting the event by encouraging students to like and share our Safety Delivered Facebook page. By challenging the university students and road safety ambassadors to design outfits that highlight common traffic rules and safe driving practices for motorcyclists, the fashion show became an opportunity for road safety ambassadors to creatively educate their peers about road safety.

Ms. Nguyen Pham Tran Chau, Marketing Supervisor at UPS Vietnam, participated in the panel to judge the fashion show competition. After the event, she expressed her enthusiasm for the fashion show’s creativity in addressing road safety issues, saying, “I am very happy to be joining this event as a judge. The students and road safety ambassadors exceeded all expectations in the quality of their designs and performance of their outfits as well as in the power of their road safety messaging for their peers.”

The fashion show gathered nearly 3,000 participants includingSafety Deliveredroad safety ambassadors, young students from six target program universities in Ho Chi Minh City; UPS volunteers; representatives from the HCMC Traffic Safety Committee, Ministry of Education and Training, as well as National Traffic Safety Committee; and a professional stylist, Hensi Le.The event was live streamed on our campaign Facebook page, receiving over 48,100 views in the first two weeks after the event. In addition to the fashion show, the audience also enjoyed performances by well-known Vietnamese singers and dancers and participated in interactive road safety activities. One of our distracted driving public service announcement videos, which included the slogan “Leave your phone alone, or you could be next!” was also shown at the event to raise awareness of the consequences of mobile phone use while driving. Participants were encouraged to like and share the video posted on our campaign Facebook page; within the first two weeks, over 65,100 youth between the ages of 19 and 25 viewed the video.

The UPS Foundation-sponsored Safety Delivered program has created a model program for peer-to-peer education through its innovative approach to spreading awareness of road safety among youth in Vietnam. Initiatives such as the ‘Safe Style Fashion Show’ come at a critical time for these university students. Of the 927 male and female students surveyed from seven universities in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, 82% travel to and from school on a motorcycle. However, many of these novice drivers lack the necessary understanding of traffic laws and the consequences of unsafe behaviors such as calling, text messaging, and using the Internet while driving. This inexperience translates to dangerous situations on the roads, with motorcycle crashes accounting for 68% of all road crashes in Vietnam.