Discovery launches SEE ME campaign to make school children more visible on our roads

Discovery launches SEE ME campaign to make school children more visible on our roads

5 February 2019

The beginning of the school year should be an exciting time for students and parents alike. But for young schoolchildren in underserved communities, it marks the beginning of the danger these children face simply by walking to school. The death of a single child is one too many, yet a young child is lost to preventable road accidents every few minutes.

Discovery’s SEE ME campaign, launching in February in the Alexandra township in Johannesburg, aims to help educate children and teachers on road safety and keep kids safe on the roads during their walk to school with reflective gear.

Children from Emfundisweni and Ikage Primary Schools in Alexandra, in grades one through six, will receive reflective SEE ME gear along with a road safety education booklet in their preferred language. Children in grade seven will receive reflective SEE ME stickers to place on their school bags to accommodate possible uniform restrictions once they get to high school.

“The reflective gear that we will be distributing to children includes backpacks, caps and beanies for the colder months, with the aim to ensure that the gear keeps children visible to other motorists but still has a practical use in the communities,” says Anton Ossip, Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Insure.

“Every four minutes, a child is prematurely lost on the roads of this world. In 2017 alone, 1 132 child pedestrians died due to road accidents in South Africa,” added Ossip. “Even a single life lost is one life too many.”

Two factors play an important role in road safety for children: The first, throughout Africa, there are no sidewalks on more than 90% of roads, combining pedestrians and fast traffic. The second factor is that more than half the children who need to walk to school take longer than 15 minutes to get there, increasing their chances of being involved in a fatal accident.

Speaking at the Discovery SEE ME launch in Alexandra, Ossip reiterated that Discovery have to respond to these alarming statistics in a tangible way and that this campaign is the first step to keeping children safer on the roads on their way to school.

Mascots will also be used to give the children a road safety education lesson which aims to make the content more appealing and fun for all ages. Teachers will be included in a briefing on how to educate children on road safety. Discovery SEE ME road safety education posters will be also be provided to each school.

“One of the guidelines from the World Health Organization on preventing road deaths is creating visibility of children using reflective gear and that motorists must enforce better driving habits. We want to use our shared value insurance model to not only create a nation of better drivers, but to also create a nation of safer roads.”

For more information or media interview requests, please contact Taryn Kerr on 011 529 2204 TarynKe@discovery.co.za