One of the greatest causes of child death in Thailand is from injuries from road crashes.  In Thailand, more than 7 children are killed on the roads every day. With an estimated 1.3 million children in Thailand traveling on motorcycles, the Thai government has legislated that all people – including children – are required to wear a safety helmet when travelling on a motorcycle.  Still, many child passengers are often seen without helmets – only 7% of children in Thailand currently wear helmets while riding motorcycles.  This leads to devastating results - approximately 2,600 children are killed, and more than 72,000 are injured, every year in road crashes in Thailand.

This year Save the Children Thailand Country Office held a Race for Survival on 10 August 2015, just before the national Mother’s Day.   On this day, selected students from six pilot schools in Bangkok raced to raise their voices to the local government on road safety.   The event brought together the representatives from the Bangkok Governor’s office, NGOs, schools, and other national and international partners.  

The grade four to six students were nominated by their classmates as Helmet Ambassadors of the 7% Project, a joint initiative by Save the Children Thailand and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation to decrease motorcycle death and injuries among Thai children by increasing helmet use from 7% to 60% by 2017. The 7% Project aims to increase parents, teachers, and children’s awareness of the risks, and ensure helmet-wearing becomes a habit through positive peer influence.  Students and teachers are working together to positively mobilize their peers and make helmet wearing a priority in their schools.

The event started with students at each of five schools (Bang Pai, Wat Hua Lampong, Wat Ratcha Burana, Wat Prayurawong, and Satani Prom Dan) engaging in discussions and activities on current challenges Thai children are facing on the road. Motorcycle taxi drivers then picked up the children’s messages from these schools, carrying them in large batons, and delivered them to the student representatives at the race venue, Bang Chak School, in a remote area of Bangkok where most students use motorcycles to get to and from school every day.  The children then ran in a relay to pass the “Race for Survival” baton to representatives who, at the same time received the children’s messages, then signed a pledge to promote helmet use in their communities.

In the presence of representatives from the Bangkok Governor, the Office of the Basic Education Commission, Thailand's Ministry of Education, WHO Thailand, the Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, Pasi Charoen District Office, and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, the event mobilized school children, teachers, parents, community, and local and metropolitan authorities, to ensure child survival, and called for increased support for helmet safety from the public.

The handing over of the race baton was symbolic of children handing in their hopes, dreams, and wishes to these adults.  The activity aimed to educate government officials on the issue of child survival particularly from road injuries and how that can be prevented with proper helmet use.

Chananya Chadchonnabot, Bangkok Governor Representative said, “We are very concerned about the safety of children.  Many children who travel to and from school on motorcycles have been injured and died.”  She went on to note that these are preventable causes and thus can be prevented by proper helmet use.

Save the Children’s “Race for Survival” is a global initiative of action for child survival aimed at raising awareness on reducing preventable child deaths, and ensuring strong, accountable commitments to end all preventable child deaths.  The event taking place around the world this year will also build a powerful momentum leading up to the UN General Assembly in New York in September which will be the final stage of the race. Youth from eight regions of the world will gather in New York with letters, pictures and videos from the children in their countries, including from Thailand.