Save the Children and Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation) submitted a pledge of more than 12,000 signatures to M. L. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the Governor of Bangkok, on 6 May 2015, as part of UN Road Safety Week. This petition calls for schools in the Bangkok metropolitan area to have a greater role in raising road safety awareness and establishing a helmet wearing policy for students.

AIP Foundation and Save the Children have been working on a road safety campaign called “The 7% Project” since 2014. The submission of the pledge is the next step in the campaign that has received widespread media and public attention. Everyday more than 1.3 million children in Thailand travel by motorcycle. Surprisingly, only 7% wear helmets. This statistic is the source of the name for the 7% Project.

The 7% Project partnersare preparing a pilot project to positively influence behavior in students to encourage them to wear helmets. The pilot project includes comprehensive training courses for teachers and parents, and addresses one of the main factors required to establish a road safety manner and culture in the community and schools of the Bangkok area: helmet-wearing.

“From 15 years of experience in road safety projects across Asia, we’ve seen serious accidents regularly occurring on the way to school. These accidents jeopardize the future of children and it time to change that. AIP Foundation and Save the Children have been working together to create and launch the road safety programs required in Thailand. The central idea of this program is to establish the selected schools as a main hub and connection point for road safety, beginning with the Bangkok metropolitan area first” said  Mrs. Rattanawadee H. Winther, Chairperson of AIP Foundation Thailand.

Indeed, according to the WHO (World Health Organization), Thailand ranks second worldwide in road traffic injuries and deaths per capita. Seven children die every day and 2,600 lose their lives on the road every year. In total more than 200 people a day or 72,000 people a year get serious injuries from these preventable crashes.

Ms. Arunrat Wattapalin, representative of Save the Children said “As a key staff member of Save the Children Thailand, it’s an honor being a part of this project and all the events and activities that have been conducted in the past. The pledge signing campaign on www.7-percent.org and change.org have had such incredible support from many people, including local government and the private sector.  With the Governor of Bangkok and BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) support for the petition, we, AIP Foundation and Save the Children are ready to launch and proceed the pilot projects in Bangkok area.”

As a global issue, the United Nations (UN) has officially announces Savekidslives2015 as the road safety campaign for 2015. The Pledge submission on May 6 is a part of UN global road safety week, the main objective is reinforcing the importance of road safety. For more information, visit: www.savekidslives2015.org.

Pledge Submission Agenda

15.00:     AIP & Save the Children representatives, teachers and students meet with M. L. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the Governor of Bangkok, at Chaophraya meeting room for pledge submission

Local media take and record pledge submitting between AIP& Save the Children, teachers and students to the Governor of Bangkok.

15.30:     Representatives from AIP & Save the Children summarizing the objective of 7%project

15.45:     M. L. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the Governor of Bangkok expresses his opinion and comments on the project

Local medias are allowed to record video

The governor of Bangkok and Representativescan be interviewed by local media if appropriate

Project Information

Everyday more than 1.3 million children travel by motorcycle in Thailand. Only 7% of these children wear helmets. According to the WHO (World Health Organization) records, Thailand ranks second worldwide in road traffic injuries and deaths per capita. Each year more than 2,600 children die. This is 7 children losing their life every day. More than 200 people a day, or 72,000 people a year, will be injured seriously in road traffic crashes. 

However, the death and injuries can be prevented by wearing helmet every time when traveling by motorcycle. This is why the 7% Project was established by co-operation between Save the Children Thailand and AIP Foundation, in conjunction with CSR Asia and regional road safety experts. The objective of this initiative is increasing the helmet wearing rate from 7% to 60% across Thailand by 2020.

Because the journey to school is an everyday occurrence for parents and children, and most students are travelling by motorcycle, the first year of the campaign will be focusing on wearing helmet as a part of daily life and the school curriculum. Community engagement, local government and schools will play an important role in creating road safety awareness.

In the following year, the project will be expanded to other areas in Thailand. 

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 For more information about the project, please contact:
Arunrat Wattapalin 
Arunrat.wattanapalin@savethechildren.org

For media enquiries, please contact:
Songporn Leelakitichok
Communications and Advocacy Coordinator
bea.leelakitichok@savethechildren.org