Traffic safety around schools in Pleiku city in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has improved remarkably thanks to a two-year project entitled ‘Slow Zones, Safe Zones’.

At the conference on June 19 to review the implementation
of the 'Slow Zones, Safe Zones' project 

The Gia Lai’s Traffic Safety Committee and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation) held a conference on June 19 to review the implementation of the project, the first designed specifically for traffic safety around schools in Vietnam. 

To prevent and reduce traffic deaths and injuries in school zones, the project added modifications to roads around schools like speed bumps, road markings, speed reduction signs, and sidewalks.

It also compiled e-curriculum to present traffic safety regulations to elementary school students and held educational activities to raise public awareness.

After one year, ‘Slow Zones, Safe Zones’ has contributed to ensure traffic safety, said Nguyen Thi Nga, principal of Phan Dang Luu elementary school, one of the two schools benefiting from the project.

In Pleiku, schools are often located along national and provincial roads and there are no safety parameters in place to protect pedestrians, namely schoolchildren commuting to and from school.

Besides, the speed limits for these roads are rather high at a minimum of 50km per hour.

Trinh Thu Ha, deputy chief of the secretariat of the National Traffic Safety Committee said speed reduction in school zones will lower casualties when accidents occur and help children gain awareness of traffic safety.

According to statistics, child traffic accident fatality rate of Vietnam was about 20 deaths per 100,000 children, while the figure was 7.4 deaths per 100,000 children in South East Asia and 4.2 deaths per 100,000 children in developed nations.

In the first five months of this year, there were more than 6,700 traffic accidents nationwide, killing over 3,100 and injuring 5,200 others – down 9.49 percent in the number of cases, 10 percent in mortalities, and 8 percent in the number of the wounded.