VW and MMDA partnership pushes child road safety awareness

In light of the success of the Child Safety Initiative (CSI), Volkswagen Philippines partners with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to further promote their award-winning road safety advocacy.

According to World Health Organization’s World Report on Child Injury Prevention, 21% of traffic related deaths worldwide are children. Sadly, two-thirds of the deaths are recorded from Southeast Asia, as well as Western Pacific Regions.

To help dwindle down the number of incidents, the German automobile manufacturer introduced CSI to toddlers and kids aged 4 to 8 years old. The children will experience real-life road situations aboard the Volkswagen push cars on the 50m Junior Driving Course. Professional driving instructors will then explain the best practices for road safety. After the program, participants will receive a junior's driver's license.

The global initiative also aims to educate parents with road safety habits and the importance of using passive safety devices like age-appropriate child safety seats.

With Volkswagen’s partnership with MMDA’s Institute of Traffic Management (ITM), participants can now expect orientation from actual traffic enforcers. Aside from the seminar, they, alongside with Philippine Global Road Safety Partnership (PGRSP) members will act as traffic aides during the program’s Junior Driving Course.

MMDA’s ITM provides education and training for local and national government employees and agencies with traffic related profiles. Upon completion of the provided training programs and courses, participants can receive a certificate of training competency or a degree.

Since its launch last April this year, Volkswagen has imparted road safety awareness and practices to 3,878 children and 3,199 adults in different venues such as malls, Volkswagen dealers and even industry trade shows. Due to the success of the campaign, Volkswagen initiated a school tour last October 24 starting with Manresa Paranaque.