Vivo Energy starts a road safety campaign for Ugandan children

African fuel retailer Vivo Energy has started informative sessions in 32 schools across Uganda to educate children about road safety, in an attempt to reduce the high number of road accidents.

It is typical for Ugandan children to walk from their homes to school, but there are serious safety concerns after police reported an estimated 600 children a year die in road accidents, reported All Africa.

In an effort to tackle the issue, fuel retailer Vivo Energy has started a road safety education programme called ‘School Children’.

When presenting the campaign last April, Cerinah Zalwango, Corporate Communications Manager for Vivo Energy Uganda, said: “Vivo Energy believes that school children are the drivers of tomorrow. We also recognize that children are vulnerable on the road and depend majorly on adults. Training children from 32 schools is an important step towards equipping them and protecting them while building good road safety behaviour.”

The Global Status Report on Road Safety finds that Uganda registered close to 3,000 annual deaths related to road accidents, while Nigeria suffered 4,000 and South Africa reported the highest number with over 13,000. Of the 3,000 fatalities in Uganda, police report 600 were children.