Vietnam will participate in commemorating World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims for the first time on November 21.
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| Two ambassadors, Kathy Uyen and Thanh Bui, visit a victim of road traffic. |
The campaign is jointly held by the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Safety Department and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation), and supported by two friendship ambassadors, actress Kathy Uyen and singer Thanh Bui.
According to Bui Thi Diem Hong, from AIP Foundation, the aim of the event is to make local people aware of the great loss caused by traffic accidents every year. “We want to call upon people to be aware of their roles in preventing traffic accidents,” Hong said.
During this time, two ambassadors, Kathy Uyen and Thanh Bui, will visit families of road traffic victims and using the mass media, call upon the whole community to consciously abide by traffic laws for safety.
At one of her visits, Kathy Uyen burst into tears when seeing an old mother crying for her only son who died in a traffic accident. “Traffic accidents are not only causing pain to families of the victims but for the whole of society as well,” she shared.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Safety Department, 859 traffic accidents have been reported in the city during the first 10 months of 2010, causing 713 deaths and 362 injuries.
“One of the main reasons leading to traffic accidents is still people’s poor awareness of the traffic laws,” Tuong revealed.
The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims was started by RoadPeace in 1993. In 2005, the United Nations endorsed this campaign as a global day to be observed every third Sunday in November of each year, making it a major advocacy day for road traffic injury prevention. This year, the day is commemorated on November 21 with the participation of more than 100 countries.
