Safe Kids Malaysia UPM wins international road safety award

KUALA LUMPUR: Safe Kids Malaysia Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) clinched the prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award 2017 for its flagship programme, Motorcycle Child Helmet Initiative.
Safe Kids Malaysia executive director, Assoc Prof Dr Kulanthayan KC Mani said he received the award from Prince Michael of Kent in London today.
"His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent approved the recommendation of the Judging Panel that Safe Kids Malaysia UPM should receive an award based on its well-conceived intervention which illustrated good knowledge transfer with very positive results showing an increase in helmet usage," he said.
Kulanthayan told Bernama this after the award presentation ceremony in London.
Safe Kids Malaysia UPM as a member of Safe Kids Worldwide USA and Global Alliance of Non-governmental Organisations on Road Safety and as a member of the National Road Safety Council of Malaysia had been working on child road safety issues since its inception in 2011.
In 2016, it took a focused approach to champion the Motorcycle Child Helmet Initiative in the state of Selangor.
Kulanthayan said the focused initiative with full support from both local and international partners was able to yield good results in increasing motorcycle child helmet usage in a year among children from 3.6% to 35.5% as well as adult rider motorcycle helmet usage from 75.6% to 87.3%.
"With the increase in usage of motorcycle helmets among both adult rider and child passenger, it is hoped this will reduce the number of head injuries and fatalities in an event of road crash," he added.
Accompanying him at the award ceremony was UPM Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences dean, Datuk Dr Abdul Jalil Nordin. — Bernama