STOP LOOK WAVE - Volvo Trucks Road Safety Proogramme

I believed all of us as parents, have been guiding our children about crossing the road only when the traffic lights are in our favour and also to cross only when the vehicles come to a complete stop before the stop line. I could tell that the school has done a great job in drilling the kerb drill as I have seen Xav practising them while crossing the road with me. Having said the above, how many of us actually teach our children about blindspots?

Personally, I had a bad encounter when I learnt from my mum a few years ago when Xav was 5. My ex-helper was seen allowing Xav to walk on his own (without holding his hand) while crosssing the bi- directional road. She thought that it was alright since she had observed the traffic rules. But having so many heavy vehicles back them due to various upcoming building projects in Sengkang West area, it can be disastrous if any heavy vehicles failed to spot the tiny-sized Xav at the blindspots or should they fail to stop in time and had him knocked down. Hence, when I was asked if I would like to share this with parents on my social media pages, I thought why not and it definately benefits the kids too.

Stop Look Wave was launched on the initiative of Volvo Trucks and was rolled out throughout the Volvo Group last year. The objective is to help children understand how to act safely in traffic and allow children an opportunity to better understand how trucks operate on the roads, be aware of the risks and doing their best to avoid them. It has been a major international success with 100,000 children having learned how to interact safely with commercial vehicles in traffic. 

In Singapore, more than 3000 children have benefited from Volvo Trucks’ outreach activities since 2014. This blue color poster is not new to me. Recently, I have spotted the standing banner at Xav's school. Volvo Trucks Singapore, together with Singapore Road Safety Council has launched the  global road safety campaign "Stop Look Wave" programme across four primary schools in Singapore, of which I believe Xav's school, is one of the schools that has benefited from it because he came back and excitedly told me about it.

Here's what I went through with Xav after having to visit Ruder Finn Asia and Josephine had kindly ran through the program with us.

#1 Always have eye contact with the driver and wave at the driver before crossing the street to make sure that the driver is aware that he is going to cross.

At no point of time when he is crossing the road, should he be looking down on the ground or at his story books or even the electronic gadgets. It can be extrremely dangerous if the child is unware of the risks around them.

#2 The importance of to see and be seen. I educated Xav not to stand too close to the big trucks (because of the much bigger size of the vehicle) or to the sides of the road junction. He should always stand on the inner side of the pedestrain path when he is at the traffic junction. With the use of the mini figurines, Xav showed me his understanding of blind spots and got them placed at the various spots.

It is always important to lay the foundations for safe behaviours and practise safer road habits at an early age. This is not only for children, I would think that the grandparents and care giver should be educated on this as well.

“It is everyone’s responsibility to make the roads safer for children and requires a collective effort among all stakeholders, from government, schools to corporates and families. We empower our children today so that they, too, can in turn be advocates among their family and social circles.” -  Olivier Metzger (General Manager of Volvo Trucks Sg)

Different touchpoints to children and their family members to increase awareness. Hence, Stop Look Wave was rolled out to be interactive with both indoor and outdoor education capabilities.

Indoor Exercise : An interactive story in Powerpoint format, starring an animated truck driver named Lim. The slideshow provides good introduction of the trucks to the children and raises awareness on blind spots and the right way to cross the road. A Street Map with scale models of trucks and humans to simulate different scenerios on the roads and encourages the right and safe behaviours. A locally-adapted animated film is produced to educate young children on the importance of road safety. It's simple enough for young children to understand. You can download the video in the link given below.

To download STOP LOOK WAVE Training materials which includes:
- Street map
- Stop Look Wave Powerpoint Animation
- Stop Look Wave Video
- Instructor's Guide
- Licence

and you can start practising with your children.

Outdoor Exercise: A Volvo truck parked in the premises for hands-on demonstrations of visibility limitations to stress the importance of making eye contact with the driver to ensure you are seen. This is also to give children the opportunity to get into the driver’s seat and experience the visibility first hand. This is located in Tuas, you may wish to arrange for a visit if you would love to.

You may wish to check out Volvo Trucks Sg on their social media pages too!
Facebook: Volvo Trucks Sg
Instagram: Volvo Trucks Sg 

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