"Use Zebra Crossing When Going over Street"

2008 BMW Children’s Traffic Safety Education Program

Commences at First Stop of Hangzhou

(April 10th, Hangzhou) The 2008 BMW Children’s Traffic Safety Education Program arrived at the Hangzhou Youth & Children Activities Center on Thursday. It is the fourth successive year that BMW has held the children traffic safety themed program since 2005 and Hangzhou is the first stop of this year’s program after its official launch in Beijing on April 7th. Mr. Wolfgang J. Bauer, Senior Manager of BMW China Regional Office Shanghai and Mr. Chen Yijun, Deputy Director of Hangzhou Youth & Children Activities Center attended the Hangzhou event.

Setting up BMW Children Traffic Theme Park, Learning through Games and Parent-Child Interaction

The theme for 2008 BMW Children’s Traffic Safety Education Program is “Use Zebra Crossing When Going over Street”. 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 an enjoyable and interesting traffic education training session.

At the kick-off ceremony in Hangzhou, Mr. Wolfgang J. Bauer，Senior Manager of BMW China Regional Office Shanghai handed over the Relay Banner of Hangzhou stop to Mr. Chen Yijun, Deputy Director of Hangzhou Youth & Children Activities Center. Mr. Chen said: “We are very delighted that BMW has chosen Hangzhou as the first stop of the 2008 BMW Children’s Traffic Safety Education Program. In Hangzhou 320 kids from 16 kindergartens will attend the two-day program. In addition, more children from 50 local kindergartens will benefit from the ‘Traffic Safety Package’ Provided by BMW.’

Wearing safety helmets, colorful t-shirts, and under the guidance of trainers and teachers, every child attending the event looked ready to participate in themed games and learn about traffic safety rules at the Traffic Safety Theme Park in Hangzhou Youth and Children’s Activities Center. “BMW designed educational tools, toys and a themed park based on children’s adaptive learning ability and their energetic nature. Children could learn about traffic safety regulations and strengthen their sense of self protection via enjoyable activities such as puppet show, role-play, and traffic sign quiz game .etc”, says Senior Manager of BMW China Regional Office Shanghai, Mr. Wolfgang J. Bauer.

Besides, parents are also actively involved in the event’s parent-child interaction segment. Many parents expressed appreciation of the event’s impact to raise traffic safety awareness among kindergarten parents while also creating an opportunity for family participation.

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.

Especially worth mentioning is the fact that in 2008, BMW will be working with China’s renowned kindergarten experts to prepare a “Traffic Safety Package” for children who will not be able to directly participate in the activities of the 2008 BMW Children’s Traffic Safety Education program. The “Traffic Safety Package” will include Traffic Safety Knowledge Wall Hanging Pictures, Inflatable Traffic Signs and Traffic Safety Game Cubes. Over the next 6 months, BMW will 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. After this year’s first stop in Hangzhou, 50 local kindergartens will receive “BMW Traffic Safety Packages”.

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 includes 40 initiatives spanning 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.

Source: www.zjecar.com