Xiamen, May 7, 2007 – FedEx Express (FedEx), a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, today joined hands with Safe Kids to launch the Safe Kids Walk This Way program in Xiamen at Jimei Primary School.
Following its successful launch in major Chinese cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan, it marks the first initiative of its kind in Xiamen. More than 100 students and nearly 30 FedEx volunteers alongside officials from the Xiamen Jimei District Children’s Palace participated in the event.
FedEx and Safe Kids first created the Walk This Way program in the United States with the aim of promoting child pedestrian safety. Since being introduced to China in April 2004, the program has been conducted in more than 2,000 schools and more than one million students and parents in China have received pedestrian safety education.
At the launch event, students from Jimei Primary School and FedEx volunteers called for further improvements of road safety and measures to ensure a safer school zone. To help meet these goals, Safe Kids and FedEx co-donated a Walk This Way road safety curriculum to the school.
Following the launch event, FedEx volunteers played road safety games with the students and practiced safe walking exercises in a nearby street, arming students with basic pedestrian behavior and road safety knowledge.
“It has been proven in many countries and regions that the number of traffic accidents can be reduced by improving the public awareness of traffic safety, people’s behaviors,” said Monica Cui, director, Safe Kids China. “With this program carried out here in Xiamen, we expect the public to care for the children pedestrians and help prevent them from being injured or killed.”
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. The report suggests that careless road crossing is the largest cause of road injury. Consequently, enhancing child pedestrian safety education and raising awareness of road safety is urgent needed.
With the rapid expansion of Xiamen’s economy and city scale, an increasing number of vehicles have led to the worse traffic situation in the city. The transportation facilities and urban traffic network need to be improved. The public awareness of road safety is still low.
A study by Safe Kids surveying 1000 primary students in Xiamen indicates several key pedestrian risks in the city:
- Nearly eighty percent of the students cannot correctly identify traffic safety signs such as “Construction” and “Mine Safety”.
- Forty-eight percent of the students claimed that vehicles jammed at the crossroad or occupied the zebra crossing when they crossed road.
- Forty-three percent of the students claimed that the sidewalks are too crowded to walk through.
The study clearly identifies the key areas needed for road safety education. In addition, the study points out that efforts should be made to improve the safety of road environments while also educating the vehicle drivers and the students on the road safety knowledge.
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