Vivo Energy : Kenya, NTSA partner in a three-year school road safety campaign

Vivo Energy Kenya (VEK), the company that distributes and markets Shell-branded fuels and lubricants in the country, has partnered with NTSA to roll out a school road safety campaign dubbed 'Look Out! Tuvuke Salama' to promote a safe environment around schools. In 2021 100 schools within seven counties, namely: Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kericho, Embu, Kisumu, and Nyeri, will receive reflective STOP signs to assist children in safely crossing the roads.

According to statistics, Kenya had an estimated total of 46,530 pre-primaries, 32,344 primaries 10,487 secondary schools as at 2019. Most children go to school at dawn and return at dusk, a time synonymous with road traffic crashes due to low visibility. This is what drove the idea for this campaign.

The objectives of the partnership are to create awareness on the importance of road safety for school-going children and ensure that children aged between 5-19 years get to and from schools safely, at all times.

Speaking during the launch event, Vivo Energy Kenya Managing Director, Mr. Peter Murungi, said that the nature of Vivo Energy's business makes road safety a crucial pillar in the organisation's safety agenda. 'Vivo Energy Kenya's business relies on trucks and road tankers to supply and distribute our products. We must always ensure that we manage this aspect of our business with the utmost care and stringent measures are in place for all our truck drivers and company-driven vehicles.'

He added, 'Vivo Energy's community programmes are designed to deliver a cultural shift in attitudes to road safety across the general population, in particular amongst school children.'

In his remarks, the Director General of the NTSA, Mr. George Njao, said children are the most vulnerable road users due to their size compared to all others. The risk is further compounded by the mere fact that schools operate between the morning and evening hours when visibility is poor. 'We highly appreciate the support from Vivo Energy Kenya and acknowledge that the three-year partnership will go a long way to addressing the risks faced by our children. We are targeting at least 50,000 schools in the next five years and I call upon all stakeholders to join the cause, identify a school and support it with this much needed STOP sign. By adopting a school, you have allowed many children to cross the road safely. Additionally, I urge motorists to reduce their speeds when they are near schools.'

He added, 'The Authority plans to address road safety challenges though education at the formative years as children often mimic the behaviour of their caregivers. We have made significant progress towards the development of a road safety curriculum for school children, a project spearheaded by the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development. We must begin to teach our children the basics of road safety in order to address some of the current and future challenges.'

This partnership will continue to 2023, and Vivo Energy plans to donate nearly 1,000 reflective STOP signs during this period. The distribution of the 2021 batch of 100 lollipop signs will start in Nairobi and Mombasa counties, and other counties will follow.

The ultimate measure of success will be reduced fatalities and injuries involving school-going children and behavioral change among the drivers, thus reducing schoolchildren's risks while crossing the road.

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