Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand transportation and mobile payments platform, today announces its partnership with AIP Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing road injuries and fatalities among children, to donate 800 helmets to students, parents and teachers at Wat Chong Nonsi School under the “Helmet for Kids” project. Under this partnership, Grab also supports AIP Foundation’s road safety training for teachers and parents at the school.

“Providing safe transportation is the heart of our mission at Grab,” said Ms. Paradee Sinthawanarong, Country Marketing Head of Grab Thailand. “As a social-minded company, Grab is committed to protecting all lives on the road, especially children. We believe that by educating children, their parents and caretakers to acknowledge the importance of choosing the right helmet for children and teaching them how to use and wear it correctly, we are encouraging the right behaviour which supports the development of a sustainable road safety solution for local communities. Grab hopes Wat Chong Nonsi school will be one of “Helmet for Kids” project’s role model schools, which will inspire other schools to adopt a similar road safety program.”

According to data from “Promote Safety and Health at Work (Thailand)” in 2015, approximately 220,000 children under the age of 19 across the world die on the roads every year. The fatality rates of children in low and middle-income countries are three times higher than that of high-income countries. Road accident is the second top cause of death among Thai children aged between 1 – 14 years old. Motorcycle accidents alone have caused one million Thai children to injure themselves every year and 99% of them who faced fatality didn’t wear helmet.  From the latest statistics, only 7% of Thai children wear helmet.

“Unfortunately, many parents and caretakers are unaware of the importance of having their children wear the helmet while traveling on a motorcycle. Even if they do, they do not know that it’s critical to their children’s safety to choose a good quality and right-sized helmet and wear it properly,” said Ms. Ratanawadee Winther, Chairperson of AIP Foundation. “Our project aims to educate all stakeholders, from organising training for teachers and parents to holding road safety extra-curricular activities for students and giving them the helmets. We will continue collaborating with partners like Grab to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the “Helmet for Kids” project to ensure more children are safe from road-related risks and dangers.”

Wat Chong Nonsi School is located in a high-density traffic area of Bangkok. Approximately 95% of students commute by motorcycle or bicycle to and from the school but only 2% of them wear helmets, according to a pre-implementation survey by AIP Foundation.

As part of the “Helmet for Kids” project, students, teachers, and parents attended the donation ceremony at Wat Chong Nonsi School. The activities included donation of helmets by Graband demonstration of the right way of wearing a helmet. Government representatives and distinguished guests who attended the event include Mr. Suthat Rujinarong, Director of Yannawa District, Col. Kasit Srithammarasuk, Chief of Bang Pong Pang Police Station, Ms. Thanita Praevanich, Director of Bangkok Education Office and Members of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and the Road Accident Victims Protection Company.