CFAO Motors Kenya through the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) has launched an ambitious road safety awareness campaign that seeks to create a safer road environment, especially for school-going children across the country. This forms part of the team’s support towards promoting road safety during this year’s WRC Safari Rally which is slated for the Easter weekend.
The campaign Dubbed #RoadSafety4All, will see primary schools across Kenya receive 10,000 glowing wristbands to improve their visibility during dark or low visibility times.The tags emit a reflective glow at night assisting in improving visibility particularly when navigating busy roads. The initiative was launched at Lang’ata Road Primary School in Nairobi County while Milimani Primary School in Naivasha will be hosted by the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, at the Rally Service Park during the WRC Safari Rally season on Thursday this week.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), every four minutes a child is
prematurely lost on the roads of this world. Many more are seriously injured, causing
immense trauma and suffering as well as economic hardships due to the high cost of
medical attention. Many of these victims unfortunately also come from poor backgrounds, which complicates the problem further. Globally, 186,300 children die every year from road traffic crashes.
In Kenya, over 40% of road deaths are vulnerable road users. The World Health
Organization (WHO) categorizes children as vulnerable road users regardless of their
mode of movement. While the risks for road traffic crashes are immense for every road user in the country, children face higher risks because they are still developing physically, cognitively as well as socially.
Speaking during the official unveiling of the project at Lang’ata Road Primary School,
CFAO Motors Kenya Managing Director, Arvinder Reel noted that the long-term goal of
the initiative is to instil a clear understanding of road safety rules, and induce positive and behavioural transformation given that the number of children lost through road traffic injuries has been on a consistent rise in recent years.
“In Kenya, children form a big part of road users. They use the roads when going to
school, as pedestrians for those who walk to school, passengers, pillion passengers, and cyclists. It is also not unusual to find children playing on the roadsides. While many schools have designated school buses to ferry children to and from school. This puts them at a higher risk of being part of these unfortunate incidents,” Mr. Arvinder noted.
The #RoadSafety4All campaign not only enables road safety learning amongst school-going children but also empowers them to become advocates of change within their local communities while aligning it with the Global UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2030 which calls for countries to improve the management of road safety through the creation of multi-sectorial partnerships to deliver national road safety strategies.
“CFAO Motors Kenya aims to empower the next generation to be the architects of change, instil good road behaviour that extends far beyond the steering wheel. Our goal is not only to encourage road safety learning but to inspire and create a ripple effect that extends from schools to the larger community, thereby adopting a sustainable approach through effective road safety initiatives. We envision a future where school-going children are not just road users, but responsible ones,” Mr. Arvinder added.
On the other hand, the NTSA Director General, George Njao noted that as the custodian of road discipline in the country, working with partners like CFAO Motors Kenya is a welcome move as it will buttress the agency’s long-term goal of elevating its commitment to make roads safer through the dissemination of best practices and rules.
“We welcome the move by CFAO Motors Kenya, one of the country’s leading automotive dealers. Through the #RoadSafety4All campaign, we see an opportunity to effectively engage children who at most times have challenges with reading and interpreting road signs and judging proximity, direction, or speed. This is compounded by their impulsive and shorter attention spans thus making them vulnerable to road accidents. This move will effectively enable them to understand their roles as road users as they continue to grow up to become young adults,” Mr. Njao said.
