(Beijing) BMW China and BMW Brilliance launched 2008 BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education Program at China Children's Center on Monday. 2008 is the fourth successive year that BMW has held the traffic safety themed program since 2005. Mr. Alfred Rupp,President and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd., Mr. Chen Ying, Director of "Campus Health Mission" Office, Mr. Wang Mingli, Deputy-director of Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, Mr. Su Feng, Chief of Safety Inspection Division of Beijing Traffic Management Bureau and Ms. Cong Zhongxiao, Deputy-director of China Children's Center attended the ceremony.
BMW Cooperates with China Children's Center to Comprehensively Promote Children's Traffic Education Program
The theme for this year's BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education Program is "Use Zebra Crossing When Going over Street". In the coming 6 months, BMW will roll out the program to 10 key cities in China including Hangzhou, Shanghai, Wenzhou, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chengdu, Shenyang and Beijing. Cooperating with China Children's Center and local Children's Palace, BMW will give 3200 Chinese children from over 100 kindergartens a fun and interesting traffic education training session.
Mr. Alfred Rupp, President and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive said in his speech delivered in today's ceremony, "BMW has designed the 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. BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education Project is an indispensable part for BMW Corporate Social Contribution Activities in China."
"Children Traffic Safety Education needs the attention and active participation by all parties in society, and BMW has set a good example regarding this issue." Said Mr. Chen Ying, Director of School Health Mission Office, "Traffic safety education is the highlight of School Health Mission, a ten-year-long campaign jointly launched by 12 Ministries in 2006. BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education has greatly promoted the Mission."
Distributing Traffic Safety Package to over 500 Kindergartens to Benefit 100,000 Children in Traffic Safety Education
In China, BMW introduced its first Children's Traffic Safety Education session in 2005, and received strong support and good comments from the government at different levels and people from all walks of life. Last year BMW enlarged its Children's Traffic Safety Education project to include 15 of China's largest cities. In 2008 there will be over 100 kindergartens to participate in the program directly.
Apart from involving more children into the program, BMW has also prepared a "Traffic Safety Package" in 2008. The package includes various traffic safety toys such as Wall Hanging Pictures, Inflatable Traffic Signs, Traffic Safety Game Cube etc. At the ceremony, Mr. Alfred Rupp，President and CEO BMW Brilliance Automotive, presented the toys to the children on the stage. BMW plans to distribute these packages to 500 kindergartens that are unable to participate in the program, and offer the children in these kindergartens traffic safety knowledge and interesting games. Therefore the overall number of benefiting children will increase from just over 2,000 in 2007 to over 100,000 in 2008.
BMW is the First Automaker to Launch Professional Road Safety Training Programs
As the number one premium car manufacturer in the world, BMW has always been striving to improve both active and passive safety, and is popularizing traffic safety education vigorously. As early as 1977, which is in 30 years ago, BMW Group had started organizing a series of road safety training programs. Over the span of 30 years, this training course has become an international project which is available across Europe, North America, South Africa and in China among other Asian countries.
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". These textbooks were warmly received by all and by parents in particular.
BMW plans to cooperate with education departments of different levels and spare no effort in promoting children's traffic safety education in the following years. At the same time, BMW hopes that adults will also pay more attention to traffic safety and contribute to a safe and harmonious society.
