Each day, more than 3,400 people die in traffic accidents around the world; this is well over 1.2 million deaths per year. The World Health Organization estimates that without drastic action, the number of road traffic fatalities will increase by 45% by 2030.
Commercial vehicles are implicated in about 10% of fatal road accidents. Over the years, the Volvo Group has developed many pioneering safety features for its products, to limit the impact of traffic accidents on people.
But for Volvo, this was never enough. As a company committed to safety, the Volvo Group works on all aspects of the problem, continuously conducting traffic research to analyze real life accidents’ causes so that it becomes possible to prevent accidents from happening in the first place.
It is clear that the cause behind the majority of road accidents involves human behavior to some degree. So, to step up the speed, the Volvo Group has decided to work on raising children’s awareness of how to behave safely in traffic through its Stop, Look, Wave campaign. This campaign is based on activities developed by Volvo Trucks and executed since 2001 in several countries. As an example, in Denmark alone, 80,000 schoolchildren have been trained on traffic safety with the help of Volvo Trucks.
Now, to achieve even better results, the Volvo Group encourages its 100,000 employees – based all around the world – to get involved in promoting safety awareness sessions for children in their immediate environment, to help them understand how best to behave around trucks, buses and cars to stay safe.
A training kit was specially developed and made available to all employees to help them in their Stop, Look, Wave conversations with children.
At the same time, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) has decided to connect with drivers all around the world, to make sure that when the children wave, drivers wave back.
More information is available at www.volvogroup.com/stoplookwave.