We took part in a storytelling session at an on-ground event and distributed our children’s storybook, Be A Road Safe Kid.
Harnessing the power of social media, four undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information have been publicising the importance of securing children when they are passengers in cars.
The Safe Seat campaign, supported by AA Singapore, encourages parents to strap their children in using child car restraints. The campaign makes use of educational content featuring experts, as well as tips from experienced parents. These are made available on:
– Facebook
– Instagram
– Website
Out of 513 parents who participated in a survey, only 55% used child car seats at all times. Undergraduate Gracia Ow, 23, reveals, “We found the gap between ownership and usage of child restraints to be appalling and surprising, because it shows that parents are compromising on their children’s safety over perceived barriers.”
It is important that children get strapped in safely because, according to the Singapore Medical Journal, doing so can reduce their risk of serious traffic accidents by 8.4 times!
On-ground events
In addition to employing social media for outreach, on-ground events were also held in shopping malls and libraries.
One of these took place on 3 March 2019 at library@harbourfront. Called The Safe Seat Day, the event featured a storytelling session by AA Singapore based on its children’s book, Be A Road Safe Kid.Doctors from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital were also present to give helpful talks as well as from a certified child passenger safety technician from Taxi Baby Co.
The Be A Road Safe Kidbook was also given out during the on-ground events.
“We believe that educational campaigns like The Safe Seatwill help to increase awareness and improve attitudes towards child car restraint usage, says Mr Lee Wai Mun, CEO of AA Singapore. “Parents are also encouraged to make use of child-friendly materials, like AA Singapore’s Be A Road Safe Kidstorybook, to educate their children and practise proper child passenger safety habits together.”