About 160 elementary students from 5 regions of DKI Jakarta participated in the “Shell Road Safety Competition Week 2009”. The event took place at Saka Bhayangkara Traffic Park, Cibubur 19-31 October and officiated by DKI Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo accompanied by Shell Indonesia President Director and Country Chairman Darwin Silalahi on Monday (19/10), along with the Indonesian National Police Traffic Director Brigadier General (Pol) Djoko Soesilo. In his welcome speech, Fauzi Bowo said, ”Awareness on road safety and security should be implemented at an early age to create agents for cultural-reform on road safety. I fully support the activity of Shell Road Safety Competition Week 2009 in this city, as Jakarta is a metropolitan and the gateway of Indonesia. Along with the increasing number of vehicles, the level of road discipline should also rise.” ”Shell Road Safety Competition Week 2009” aims to motivate elementary students to sharpen their knowledge and skills in road safety. In the competition, students will compete to show their skills in following road safety rules at Saka Bhayangkara Traffic Park, which has been conditioned as real road traffic situation. The competitions include fun car riding, bicycling, pedestrian safety, storytelling, and drawing. The competition is part of the “Shell Road Safety School” program, a road safety education program for elementary students. The program has been rolled out since June 2008 and has been participated by almost 3,000 4th-6th graders in Jakarta. “Shell Road Safety” program is a social investment activity of Shell Indonesia themed “Think Safety, Act Safely”. Darwin Silalahi said, ”Road safety education needs to be implemented at early age to turn them into present and future agents of cultural-reform in road safety. The Shell Road Safety program is initiated by Shell Indonesia to actively contribute on safety and security on the road, which we hope can reduce the number of accidents. Through this activity, Shell hopes the participants can be the agents of cultural-reform of road safety who would not only understand traffic signs but also able to implement discipline on the road in their daily lives.” On the same occasion, DKI Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo also distributed comic books on traffic discipline issued by Shell Indonesia for the students. The comic books, with 10,000 copies in print, will be distributed to students that have completed road safety training from Shell. The comic themed ”The Adventure of Tisa and Aksa” is an effective approach in sending road safety messages to the students. There are two mascots in this comic that is in line with the program’s motto, namely Tisa (short from “Think Safety”) and Aksa (short from “Act Safely”). Besides comic books, Shell also routinely conducts safety riding programs with the automotive community and socializing forecourt safety as part of the road safety social investment initiatives. At the moment, Shell is building a website on road safety that will be launched by December 2009. ”I am very happy to participate in the road safety competition and I hope to win as I have prepared for it. My friends and I have learned so much about traffic discipline from the ‘Road Safety’ activities held by Shell Indonesia and I’m also happy to gain understanding on how to take care for ourselves when walking to school,” said Trisya Livy Astari, student of Sunter Agung 12 Pagi Elementary School. Trisya is one of amongst many elementary students aged 9 to 12 years old that are participating in the competition. Children participating in the Road Safety program would not only able to recognise traffic signs but also the importance of discipline in traffic. Indonesian National Police Traffic Director Brigadier General (Pol) Djoko Soesilo at the opening of “Shell Road Safety Competition Week 2009” said, ”This integrated traffic discipline educational program supports our duty as traffic controller. Through this program, we hope a good cooperation between the society as road users and the Police can be strengthened. And because the society is already aware of the rules of road safety since an early age, we hope it will create more safety, security and discipline on the road, in accordance with Law no. 22/2009.” Based on data launched by Traffic Directorate website of Polda Metro Jaya, there were 272,000 cases of traffic accidents in 2008 which caused at least 1,169 deaths. Hence, these numbers are feared to increase, without the public’s concern and awareness on road safety. Road safety education has become a priority for Shell’s social investment activity. It has been conducted by Shell not only in Indonesia but also abroad, so that almost all adult citizens have experienced the activity since they were students. In Singapore for instance, the ”Shell Traffic Games” activity has involved around 65,000 elementary students every year since 1958. Moreover, the road safety program is a mandatory curriculum at schools. Meanwhile in Malaysia, ”Shell Traffic Games” has involved around 25,000 elementary students every year since it was first held in 1957. | 
