The handover of bikes to students in Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province, as part of the ‘Bike to school’ campaign launched on Friday. — Photo from AIP Foundation

PLEIKU CITY —As part of our school safety zone model programme “Slow Zones, Safe Zones”, AIP Foundation along with the authorities of Gia Lai Province and Pleiku City on Friday launched the ‘Bike to school’ campaign providing 85 new bicycles for low-income students to be able to bike to and from school.

This year, the programme is increasingly encouraging students and their families to use sustainable means of transport, paving the way for healthier and greener cities as well as promoting safe and sustainable mobility. This also aligns with Việt Nam’s National Green Growth Strategy 2021-2030.

The objective of the “Bike to School” campaign is to engage students in healthy mobility across 19 secondary schools, aiming to reach a total of 18,135 students.

Following the students' performance and remarks by the donors and the Traffic Safety Committee representatives, AIP Foundation presented 85 low-income students with a new bicycle. The foundation’s network of individual supporters and corporate donors have donated the bicycles.

Afterwards, the students engaged in road safety games to learn practical and life-saving skills on how to be safe on the road. 

In addition to today kick-off ceremony, the ‘Bike to school’ campaign included also a safety bike training tour, a featured ‘biking to school’ month, a biking virtual marathon, and a closing event that includes tactical urbanism to demonstrate safe bicycle facilities. 

“We are delighted to see this green initiative coming to our city in Pleiku. We want to build a model city for safe school zones in Việt Nam. This bike campaign brings us one step closer to making our ‘green plateau for health’ a reality in Gia Lai Province,” shared Hiếu Phan, Chief of Office of Traffic Safety Department of Gia Lai Province. 

The overall purpose of the Slow Zones, Safe Zones programme is to reduce road crash injuries and fatalities in school zones. Students’ journeys to and from school become safer through implementation of traffic calming measures, the reduction of posted speed limits in school zones, the application of interactive learning through an e-curriculum, and public awareness campaigns combined with the enforcement of new posted speed limits.

In recognition of the collaborative efforts for the Slow Zones, Safe Zones programme, the Prince Michael International Road Traffic Safety Award 2020 was presented to the National Traffic Safety Committee and the Ministry of Education and Training. The International Vision Zero for Youth Leadership Award 2022 was presented to the Gia Lai Province People’s Committee and Pleiku City People’s Committee.

“It is our pleasure to congratulate the national and local governments in Việt Nam for their successful work in transforming Pleiku into a safer and greener city. We are proud to work with AIP Foundation, who have been instrumental in implementing the program in this region,” shared Kim Beng Lua, Senior Officer at the Global Road Safety Partnership.

The Slow Zones, Safe Zones program, which aims to improve the safety of students’ journeys to and from schools, is supported by Fondation Botnar, the Global Road Safety Partnership, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile), and the International Road Assessment Programme, and aligns with the Global Plan of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030. Similarly, Việt Nam’s current National Road Safety Strategy supports meeting the goals of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, ensuring maximum traffic safety for school zones around the country, AIP Foundation noted.

Pleiku City has long been the home of the Slow Zones, Safe Zones programme.

Mirjam Sidik, Chief Executive Officer at AIP Foundation, shared, “As we engage with the youth in Pleiku City, we hope that they in turn will influence their families and friends to ride their bikes, creating a safer and greener environment for generations to come.” — VNS