@GM: Safe Kids Safe Ride Program Introduces New Educational Initiative for Parents in China

• Supporting “Zero Crashes for All Always”
• Over 150,000 children and their parents in seven cities have already benefited
• New channels are being opened to call for more participation and have a greater impact

SHANGHAI – General Motors and Safe Kids China have jointly introduced an all-new parental safe driving educational initiative as part of the Safe Kids Safe Ride program. It is supporting the concept of “Zero Crashes for All Always.”

The new course has already been introduced in seven cities across China and is being broadcast on a rolling basis in children’s hospitals, maternal and child health centers, and other parent-child venues. The Safe Kids Safe Ride program website was also recently launched to integrate the course to share knowledge about keeping children safe.

“The safety of children in vehicles requires the effort of our entire society, including families and schools, as well as public awareness campaigns and other collaboration,” said Monica Cui, executive director of Safe Kids China. “It is the Safe Kids Safe Ride program’s priority this year.”

Julian Blissett, GM executive vice president and president of GM China, added: “As we focus on the safety of children in and around vehicles, we also want to provide more useful information to their parents. Through the Safe Kids Safe Ride program, we are committed to creating a safer and more enjoyable environment for all children on every trip.”

The World Health Organization’s Ten Key Strategies for keeping children safe on the road emphasize that the safety of children in vehicles is the responsibility of the driver^[1]. This extends beyond just correctly using child safety seats.

The innovative new Safe Kids Safe Ride program course was developed by a certified child passenger safety technician, leveraging professional knowledge on the correct use of child safety seats, demonstrating WHO’s concept of the impact of safe drivers for child passenger safety, and incorporating driver safety behavior education. It features scientific explanations and case studies on important safety points such as slowing down, and avoiding driving impaired and distracted driving, while reiterating the importance to parents of using safety seats for their children.

The new Safe Kids Safe Ride program initiative has already been shared this year at nearly 1,100 kindergartens in Changsha, Qingdao, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Mianyang, Foshan and Zibo, benefiting more than 150,000 children and their parents.

The Safe Kids Safe Ride program continues to develop new channels to deliver its safety messages to more children and their families. This year, an animated educational video on child passenger safety was introduced at the National Children’s Medical Centre Beijing Children’s Hospital and Shanghai Songjiang Maternal and Child Health Hospital. It provides children, parents and parents-to-be with useful tips on child safety in and around vehicles.

In addition, the program’s website (http://saferide.safekidschina.org) was recently launched to share resources such as the Safe Kids Safe Ride program course deck, information posters and educational videos. It also provides a channel for volunteers to register to deliver courses and spread the message.

Feng Huo, a physician in the emergency department of the National Children’s Medical Centre Beijing Children’s Hospital, said: “An average of 8,000 children are treated in our hospital every day, including those injured in traffic accidents. Many children have been seriously injured or even lost their lives because they did not ride in child safety seats. We look forward to more action being taken to raise society’s awareness to promote the correct use of child safety seats in order to protect children every time they travel.”

Since the Safe Kids Safe Ride program was launched by GM and Safe Kids China in 2014, it has reached out to more than 6,100 kindergartens and children’s hospitals in 60 cities across the country, impacting more than 1.26 million children and their parents. GM will continue working with Safe Kids China to explore new road and vehicle safety practices through multiple channels and continue promoting the development of child travel safety in China to benefit more children and their families.

[1] United Nations: UN launches #SaveKidsLives campaign to boost road safety for children, link: https://news.un.org/en/story/2015/05/497752-un-launches-savekidslives-campaign-boost-road-safety-children

Safe Kids Worldwide^® is a nonprofit organization working to help families and communities keep kids safe from injuries. Most people are surprised to learn preventable injuries are the #1 killer of kids in the United States. Throughout the world, almost one million children die of an injury each year, and almost every one of these tragedies is preventable. Safe Kids works with an extensive network of more than 400 coalitions in the United States and with partners in more than 30 countries to reduce traffic injuries, drownings, falls, burns, poisonings and more. Since 1988, the rate of unintentional injuries under 19 in the United States has declined by 60 percent. Safe Kids China has been promoting child safety activities and preventing unintentional child injuries through injury research, safety education and promotion of environmental and legislative activities since the start of its program in China in 1999. If you have ideas on how to join us, please visit www.safekidschina.org or www.safekidsworldwide.org.

Go to Source