Teach them young

Using a zebra crossing or green light to cross the street is common sense, however it's not necessarily the case in China.

To promote public awareness of traffic safety for Chinese of all ages, German carmaker BMW believes the education can begin with children.

In April, BMW China and BMW Brilliance Automotive kicked off the 2008 BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education Program at China Children's Center in Beijing, with the theme: "Use zebra crossings when crossing the street".

It is the fourth successive year that BMW has held the traffic safety program since 2005.

To date the program has toured Hangzhou, Shanghai and Wenzhou and will go to Guangzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chengdu, Shenyang and Beijing within this year.

Cooperating with China Children's Centers and local Children's Palaces, BMW will give 3,200 Chinese children from over 100 kindergartens a fun and interesting traffic education training session.

Of the more than 100,000 people killed in traffic accidents a year in China, about 16,000 are children under the age of 15. Traffic fatalities are the main cause of death for children and the rate is 2.5 times higher than Europe and 2.6 times that of the US.

Therefore, "BMW designed educational tools, toys and a Traffic Safety Theme Park based on children's adaptive learning ability and their active nature, utilizing fun games and interesting activities to help them learn about traffic safety regulations and strengthen their sense of self protection," says Alfred Rupp, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance.

To provide children with an authentic simulation, the Traffic Education Theme park is designed to include an automobile road, a pedestrian road, a zebra crossing and a standing traffic light along with traffic signs.

Wearing safety helmets, colorful T-shirts, and under the guidance of trainers and teachers, children attending the event participate in themed games and learn about traffic safety rules.

Through lively explanation by professional instructors, children quickly grasp the meaning of various traffic signs and rules.

"Children can learn about traffic safety regulations and strengthen their sense of self protection via enjoyable activities such as a puppet show, role-playing and traffic sign quiz game and so on," says Rupp.

In addition, this year's program has designed "Parent-child Interaction Games", in which parents and children will work together by answering various traffic safety related questions. Many parents expressed appreciation for the program because of the opportunity for family participation.

"Apart from caring parents, a scientific teaching method is also necessary to keep the children away from traffic accidents, and BMW has set a good example in that respect" says Pan Wei, director of Pre-school Education of Shanghai Student Extracurricular Activities Office. "The role playing method in the BMW Traffic Theme Park enables the children to participate fully in traffic safety education in a dynamic and enjoyable way."

Wider project

Last year BMW enlarged its Children's Traffic Safety Education project to include 15 of China's largest cities. In 2008 more than 100 kindergartens will participate in the program.

Moreover, this year BMW will be working with China's national kindergarten experts to prepare a Traffic Safety Package for children who will not be able to directly participate in the program.

The Traffic Safety Package includes wall hanging safety-theme pictures, inflatable traffic signs and traffic safety game cubes.

This year, BMW will distribute these packages to more than 500 kindergartens nationwide and the number of children will increase from just over 2,000 in 2007 to more than 100,000 in 2008.

Focus on road safety

BMW has always worked to improve both active and passive safety, and is popularizing traffic safety education throughout the world.

As early as 1977, BMW Group organized a series of road safety training programs. Over the span of 30 years, the training course has grown to include 40 initiatives across Europe, North America, South Africa and China.

In 2006, BMW Group invested a large amount of money to publish traffic safety textbooks, including "Practical Driving Operation Training Doohickey Driver's" handbooks and "Anna, Paul and Peipei".

BMW plans to cooperate with education departments at different levels and spare no effort in promoting children's traffic safety education in the future At the same time, BMW hopes that adults will also pay more attention to traffic safety.

(China Daily 06/02/2008 page8)