Play Safe

The quaint, charming city of Hanoi in Vietnam has a traffic situation similar to Metro Manila’s. Which is to say it’s also a mess — albeit in a slightly different form. Think of Manila’s traffic, but substitute a gazillion motorbikes in lieu of cars, jeepneys and FX taxis and you get the picture.

Apparently recognizing that this situation is, indeed, a problem to deal with, particularly where pedestrian and motorist safety issues are concerned, big business and the Vietnamese government came up with an innovative idea to try to sort this mess out. While it doesn’t guarantee any immediate change in the way those motorbikes dart in, out and between traffic, and car drivers to refrain from honking (which they do at the slightest of reasons), it is at the very least a step in the right direction, and that is to raise traffic safety awareness among the Viets.

It’s called the Safety Village, which aims to provide behavioral education in matters concerning traffic safety, both from a motorist’s and a pedestrian’s standpoint as well. Logically, the project is targeting the youth, who can still be molded, thus preventing them from growing up as certified jerks on the road. Or more important, to get assurance that these kids get the chance to actually grow up without getting killed or hurt on the road.

Because as government statistics indicate, an average of 25 Viets are killed everyday in road accidents, while more than double that number are permanently disabled. Also, road accidents directly affect the local economy, as the statistics further point out. Economic losses related to road accidents are estimated to account for as much as two percent of the country’s GDP, eating up almost all of the national health budget.

In 1999, the Vietnamese government, the UNICEF, the local embassies of various countries and the business community gathered together to discuss traffic safety in the country. Ford Vietnam Ltd. took the initiative of transforming ideas into something more concrete, and the Safety Village concept was developed.

About two years later, Ford Vietnam, New York Life International, Microsoft Vietnam and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation officially turned over the finished and already operational Safety Village to Vietnamese government agencies, specifically to the Department of Transport and Public Works and the Thong Nhat Park administration, which will manage and operate the Village.

Built on an area of about 2,000 square meters, the Safety Village is located in Hanoi’s picturesque old quarter area, where French colonial (whatever that means) buildings and houses line the streets. Across the Village is a lake surrounded by a park, which pretty much resembles a large Burnham Park in Baguio.

In the Safety Village, children aged five to 14 drive or ride scaled-down motorized vehicles and bicycles through a maze of paths that are modeled after real streets – with traffic signs, pedestrian lanes, traffic lights and all. Kids are taught basic traffic rules and regulations, the importance of observing these rules, and encouraged to follow them when they go out in the real world – all under the guise of play. Authorities hope this kind of education will enable the children to develop the proper attitude toward traffic rules and equip them with the required knowledge of pedestrian and driving safety and the regulations.

Needless to say, in a country like the Philippines where there isn’t a shortage of idiotic drivers who have no idea whatsoever that the innermost lane is the fast lane, a Safety Village is something that should be considered.