The award ceremony in Pleiku City for students with best performance of the music video. — Photo courtesy of AIP Foundation

PLEIKU — As part of the innovative Big Data road safety program, AI&Me: Empowering youth for safer roads, AIP Foundation has launched the music video ‘Cung Đường Biết Nói’ with rapper DATMANIAC& CAM by hosting an AI&Me Road Safety Challenge Day for students.

The aim of the Road Safety Challenge Day is to use music to raise road safety awareness among students and empower them to speak up to be heard by the local government through a Youth Engagement App (YEA).

The music video features the Youth Engagement App, which is being piloted in HCM City, Pleiku City, and Yên Bái since December 2022.

To celebrate the launch of the music video, a Road Safety Challenge Day was hosted in Pleiku by AIP Foundation in collaboration with the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) and local government partners. Approximately 1,300 students participated from over ten secondary schools.

Students took part in performances of the music video to raise awareness among their peers on the importance of safe school zones. This day will provide a unique opportunity for students to share their own opinions about the risks they face and call on other young people to take action and report dangerous streets. Students could choose to do a rap cover or dance based on the music and lyrics of the MV, or combine both performances.

“The Youth Engagement App (developed by the International Road Assessment Programme - iRAP) is a platform which encourages youth across Việt Nam to take an active role in shaping the future of their city and city streets while not only supporting but also prioritising their health and wellbeing. The YEA app leverages AI and digital technology to ensure meaningful youth participation,” Siddhartha Jha, AI and Digital Innovation Lead for Fondation Botnar, said.

Since the pilot study was launched, the students already used the YEA App to share their own perceptions by creating more than 18,000 pins for locations near their schools with notes about the road safety risks they saw, raising their voices for improved road safety.

These findings support the need to identify risk locations in order to determine school zone star ratings using the Star Ratings for Schools system. Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) is an evidence-based tool for measuring, managing and communicating the risk children are exposed to on a journey to school. It supports quick interventions that save lives and prevent serious injuries from day one.

Following the YEA App pilot study, a post-assessment was conducted with 1,468 students to measure the changes in their knowledge and attitude. The students with good or excellent knowledge increased significantly from 55.8 per cent to 80.6 per cent. The percentage of students displaying a positive attitude increased from 42.1 per cent to 58.6 per cent.

Đoàn Hữu Dũng, Director of Department of Transport, Standing Deputy Chief of Traffic Safety Committee of Gia Lai province, said “We are incredibly proud to celebrate the Road Safety Challenge Day together with students and international partners in Pleiku. The YEA App is a unique platform that empowers students to speak for their needs and rights. Only together with youth can we bring about real change."

Road crashes are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years globally. In Việt Nam, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimated that more than 6,200 children and youth aged 5-29 were killed in road crashes in 2019. This represents a public health crisis that disproportionately affects young people most. Road upgrades, speed management, as well as enforcement of behavioral risk factors are needed to address this crisis effectively. — VNS