“Keep Family at Heart, Don’t Drink and Drive”--2009 BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education Guangzhou Stop Advocates Citizens’ Safe Driving
(Guangzhou) “Keep Family at Heart, Don’t Drink and Drive”- BMW officially kicks off the 2009 Children’s Traffic Safety Education “Anti-Drunk Driving” special program at the Guangzhou Children’s Center today, appealing to every driver’s regulated driving behavior and contribution to make the road a safe and harmonious place for children, their families and society. A selection of excellent children’s car sticker designs themed on “Say ‘No’ to Drunk Driving”, are displayed on site and presented to citizens at the scene in real sticker forms to remind them of the significance of keeping away from alcohol and driving safely. Ms. Grace Li, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, Mr. Jiang Cunyu, Head of Security Depart from Department of Education of Guangdong Province, Ms. Huang Yueying, Captain of Female Squadron of Auto Brigade of Guangzhou Traffic Police Detachment, and Mr. Zhang Haibo, Vice Director of Guangzhou Children’s Center are also in attendance.
BMW’s Safe Driving Appeal Warmly Received by the Public; Hand-in-hand to Create A Harmonious Traffic Environment.
Recently, there have been repeated occurrences of serious road accidents and casualties as a result of drunk driving; to fight against such an illegal driving behavior has become a common goal of the whole society. The initiative of “Keep Family at Heart, Don’t Drink and Drive” by BMW at the opening ceremony of the Shanghai stop in September was positively echoed by the local government, media, children and their families. Toady, at the Guangzhou Stop, Ms. Grace Li, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd, again called for united efforts from members of the BMW family, including the BMW customers, dealers and associates, as well as every Guangzhou citizen, to voluntarily regulate their behavior on the road and keep away from drunk driving in a bid to make every road and street a safer and more harmonious place in Guangzhou.
“BMW has been a dedicated contributor to road safety education around the world for more than two decades. More than 100,000 Chinese children and families have benefited from BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education program, which now enters the fifth year in a row. Through staging the activity with focus on safe driving of the program, BMW expects to exterminate drunk driving among families and broaden the influence across the entire community in an effort to create a harmonious environment on the road. In a clear response to the proposal set forth by the Beijing Traffic Safety Committee, BMW also requests all its employees with a valid driving license to sign the guaranty on traffic safety. To fulfill its responsibility as a corporate citizen for harmony on the road, BMW will actively work in collaboration with local traffic control authorities to stage traffic safety activities of sorts,” Ms. Grace Li said.
“Traffic control authorities across the country are clamping down on drunk driving. But it requires not only punishment, but joint efforts from everyone of the community to fundamentally uproot drunk driving. We are adamant that the serial commonweal activities conducted by BMW in the area of traffic safety education have great significance and your attention and participation are highly appreciated. At the same time, we also expect more enterprises like BMW will join the line to heed traffic safety,” said Captain Huang from the Guangzhou Traffic Policemen Detachment.
Children taught the danger of drunk driving through nose-touching game; Little Pioneer encouraged to safeguard traffic safety of the family.
In the children’s traffic safety theme park with simulation of realistic road environments, originated by BMW, traffic police officer Captain Huang first asked the children to close their eyes and touch their nose. Such a simple move is difficult for eye-closed drunk people because alcohol can disturb human balance, muscle movement and judgment. “So, if someone can’t even find his nose, can he continue to drive?” “No!” “Dangerous!” The vivid nose-touching game is instrumental in alerting pre-school children who have no experience in drinking, to the danger of drunk driving.
Next, the children were asked to pick among an assortment of food, beverage and alcohol patterns that they think they could consume before driving. Those who choose “alcohol” were given immediate education on the scene. Professional trainers also took advantage of this elaborately designed game to ask the children to “oversee their parents and ask them not to drive after drinking”, an approach to tap the children’s influence to regulate adults’ driving behavior. Under the instruction of the traffic police officer and the trainer, the children soon accomplished the learning of traffic rules through personal involvement in the driving game and became “model drivers”.
Ms. Zuo Wenting, a BMW customer who was at the scene with his daughter, said: “The kids have learned much essential knowledge of traffic safety in the training camp. This has not only helped raise their safety awareness, but served to monitor the parents as well. So if each household, as a fundamental component of society, complies with traffic rules, it would help turn the road a safer and more harmonious place for all!”
As a world leading automotive product manufacturer, BMW has a long-term commitment to the promotion of traffic safety education while striving to enhance the active and passive safety of its products. In China, BMW concentrates on establishing and maintaining a safe traffic environment, and are actively involved in educating children, teenagers and novel motorists in traffic safety. This year, BMW continues to work in collaboration with the China Children’s Center to stage “I’m A Little Traffic Safety Pioneer”, a themed training camp in the homes of the youth and children’s activity centers across 18 cities. More than 6,000 children from 250 kindergartens have participated in the program.
