BANGKOK, November 23, 2012 — FedEx Express Thailand helped celebrate “International Walk to School Day” in Bangkok with Safe Kids Thailand. FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company and a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) announced today that more than 500 children, teachers and FedEx volunteers walked down the side of Victory Monument to MBK Center to promote safe walking practices and help reduce traffic accidents involving pedestrians.
The walk was part of the International Safe Kids Walk This Way Week, an initiative to increase public understanding of road safety, promote safe walking practices and encourage the use of helmets among motor-cyclists. During the walk, children and teachers held up banners and signs displaying road safety messages.
Traffic accidents are the second leading cause of child fatalities in Thailand. According to a study by the Child Safety Promotion & Injury Prevention Research Center (CSIP) from 1999-2000, over 21,000 children suffered injuries annually as a result of traffic accidents, with an estimated 700 to 900 fatalities annually among youngsters under the age of fifteen. More than 23.8 percent of those injured from road accidents are under the age of ten. Most of these accidents occur from 16:00 to 18:00, the time when children are walking home from school.
Commenting on the ‘Walk for Awareness’, David Carden, FedEx Express managing director for Thailand and IndoChina, said child safety was a concern for the whole community.
“It is a tragedy that so many young children continue to be at risk from road accidents,” Carden said. “FedEx is proud to play its part in raising awareness of this important safety issue. This is particularly so in a large city such as Bangkok, but we hope the message is carried out to other communities in Thailand as well.”
Since FedEx and Safe Kids introduced the Walk This Way program in Thailand in 2010, the primary focus has been to establish complementary networks of schools, government departments and officials to broaden support for its aims.
International Safe Kids Week in Bangkok is one of three collaborative programs, including the PHOTOVOICE Exhibition and Walk This Way Safety Day Program between FedEx and Safe Kids Thailand that aim to raise awareness of road safety and reduce fatalities among children.
About Safe Kids Walk This Way
The Walk This Way program was created by Safe Kids Worldwide and FedEx in the United States in 2000. The program has worked with more than a million students and thousands of schools in Brazil, Canada, China, Korea, the Philippines and the United States. Walk This Way is a multifaceted program that includes education, safety task forces that make environmental improvements to areas where children walk, research and law enforcement, all working to promote child pedestrian safety.
FedEx Corp., the exclusive corporate sponsor of the Safe Kids Walk This Way program, provides safety expertise and assists in the collection of research data to document the problems faced by child pedestrians. With FedEx financial assistance, Safe Kids Worldwide also helps fund pedestrian safety task forces in high-risk areas. FedEx volunteers conduct classroom education, escort children to and from school on International Walk to School Day and serve on school-based pedestrian safety committees. Every October, more than 1,000 FedEx volunteers in more than 150 cities around the world work with Safe Kids to keep children safe. For more information about Walk This Way, visit www.usa.safekids.org/wtw.
Safe Kids Worldwide
Safe Kids Worldwide is a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury, a leading killer of children fourteen and under. More than 450 coalitions in nineteen countries bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations, foundations, governments and volunteers to educate and protect families. The organization is dedicated to the prevention of unintentional injuries such as road traffic injuries, falls, burns, drowning and poisoning. The Safe Kids, Walk This Way program has been adapted to match the specific conditions of Thailand and to ensure the greatest effectiveness of the project.
About FedEx Express
FedEx Express is the world’s largest express transportation company, providing fast and reliable delivery to more than 220 countries and territories. FedEx Express uses a global air-and-ground network to speed delivery of time-sensitive shipments, by a definite time and date with a money-back guarantee[1].
About FedEx Corp
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $43 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 300,000 team members to remain “absolutely, positively” focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. For more information, visit news.fedex.com.
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[1] Subject to relevant terms and conditions