TAIYUAN, March 17, 2010 – FedEx Express (FedEx), a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and one of the world’s largest express transportation companies, today joined hands with Safe Kids Worldwide, a global non-profit organization, to launch the Safe Kids Walk This Way program in Taiyuan at Experimental Primary School .
Following its successful launch in major Chinese cities including Beijing , Shanghai and Guangzhou , the child pedestrian safety program marks the first initiative of its kind in Taiyuan . Two hundred students and four FedEx volunteers, along with officials from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), participated in the event.
FedEx and Safe Kids first created the Walk This Way program in the United States in 1999 with the aim of promoting child pedestrian safety. Since being introduced to China in April 2004, the program has brought pedestrian safety education to more than 1.8 million students and parents in China .
At the launch event, students from Experimental Primary School and FedEx volunteers called for increased action to improve road safety in order to ensure a safer school zone. FedEx volunteers played road safety games with the students, arming students with basic pedestrian behavior and road safety knowledge. To help meet these goals, Safe Kids Worldwide and FedEx co-donated the Walk This Way road safety curriculum to 100 Taiyuan primary schools.
According to a report released by Safe Kids Worldwide, road accidents have become the second-largest killer of children aged 14 and under in China . An average of more than 30,000 children are injured or killed in traffic accidents every year. Of these, nearly 44 percent are child pedestrians. Consequently, enhancing child pedestrian safety education and raising awareness of road safety is urgently needed.
The rapid expansion of Taiyuan ‘s economy and city scale has led to an increasing number of vehicles, worsening the city’s traffic situation. The transportation facilities and urban traffic network need to be improved and public awareness of road safety needs to increase.
A Safe Kids survey of more than 500 students in Experimental Primary School indicates several key pedestrian risks in the city:
· About thirty percent of the students walk alone to school every day.
· Seventy percent of the students felt the crossroad is the most dangerous area for walking.
· The students noted there are no traffic lights and no zebra crossing at the crossroads.
· The major safety problem is the vehicles that are jammed at the school gate.
· The students need to improve their road safety knowledge. Besides traffic lights, they need to recognize more traffic signs and understand how to cross the street safely.
The study clearly identifies the key areas needed for road safety education. In addition, the study points out that measures should be taken to improve the safety of streets while also educating drivers and students on road safety.
