Project helps ensure traffic safety at schools in Gia Lai

The targeted schools are Phan Dang Luu Elementary School in Bien Ho commune and Nguyen Luong Bang Elementary School in Thang Loi Ward, Pleiku city. 

A conference on the implementation of the project was held by Gia Lai province’s Traffic Safety Board and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIPF) on June 28. 

The project aims to ensure traffic safety around schools in Pleiku city by upgrading traffic infrastructure and improving public awareness of this issue.  

Pleiku has 31 elementary schools with nearly 24,000 pupils, who are dropped off and picked up by their parents. Traffic jams often occur at school gates as the schools are located on main streets. 

According to Vietnam’s National Traffic Safety Committee, traffic accidents kill about 1.3 million people and injure 50 million others each year, causing losses worth US$500 billion. 

The Vietnam-Germany Transport Research Centre reported that the number of child fatalities in accidents in Vietnam was 20 per 100,000, nearly three times higher than other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and more than four times higher than developed countries. 

Against the back drop, the committee has selected the theme of “Traffic safety for children” for the 2018 Traffic Safety Year .