More than 100 students participated in ”Road Safety: Think Safety, Act Safely” program at Taman Lalu Lintas Saka Bayangkara, Bumi Perkemahan Cibubur. The program, attended by Wally Saleh, Vice President Director, Business Development PT Shell Indonesia, and Adjar Triyadi, Vice Traffic Director of Indonesian Police Force (Wakil Direktorat Lalu Lintas Polri), aims at educating and provide understanding about road safety at an early age. Road Safety program is part of PT Shell Indonesia’s social investment activities with the intention to actively contribute on safety driving issues. Since it was first implemented (5/6), 375 students from 7 elementary schools have participated in the program. To the end of this year, the program plans to involve more than 1.000 students from 13 elementary schools in Jakarta. Wally Saleh said ”We are very pleased to see the children's enthusiasm to participate in the activities of this program. We hope, by educating road safety ethics since early age, our next generation will prioritize road safety as one of their most important values. On the same note, Adjar Triyadi said ”We are supporting ”Road Safety: Think Safety, Act Safely” program by Shell Indonesia, as it promotes road safety awareness.” According to Adjar, the number of accidents in Indonesia tends to increase. More than 30,000 people died in traffic accidents every year, wheremost of the casualties are motorcycle riders. Furthermore, on any given day, Jakarta and the surrounding areasadd 1,000 new motorcycles. Due to fuel price hike, the number of motorcycle tends to rise due to the shift from car to motorcycle usage. Hence, Adjar appreciates every party who is actively involved in improving the road users' safety ethics. Humans play a major role in decreasing the number of traffic accidents. The higher the road safety awareness, the lower the number of accidents. Giving road safety education at an early age is the investment to improve road safety awareness for the next generation. At Taman Lalu Lintas Saka Bayangkara, students gain knowledge on road safety, from the introduction and function of traffic signs, vehicle readiness, ethics, to the roles of traffic police. The materials were presented to the children directly by the traffic police. To make the event more exciting, a road safety drawing and cheer competition and story telling was held. The children also had a chance to drive fun car with safety equipments such as safety belt and helmet. Vanessa Vivance, a student of SDN 05 Gondangdia said ”I gained road safety knowledge from the program today. Now I understand traffic signs and how to act safely. We can avoid accidents if we can discipline ourselves” Budi Prastowo, a student of SDN 03 Gondangdia said ”To be safe, we need to know and understand traffic ethics. The Road Safety Program is cool and fun, and useful to decrease number of accidents.” The children's participation in the program activities is expected to generate change agents. The Road Safety materials for elementary school students are designed to combine learn and play. PT Shell Indonesia is concerned with road safety issues. ”Road Safety: Think Safety, Act Safely” program which was launched on May 28, 2008, is one of PT Shell's efforts in lowering the number of traffic accidents. ”We hope, active participation from different parties, including the community, to think safety and act safely can push down number of accidents in Indonesia,” Wally ended his statement.
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