Hanoi first grader wins traffic safety slogan contest

Doan Nguyen Thuy Chi, currently studying at Ngo Thi Nham Primary School in Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung district, obtained the award at a ceremony held on January 17 for her slogan “Doi mu bao hiem, an toan cho ban, tranh xa tai nan, ca nha cung vui” (Wearing a helmet, safety for you, preventing accidents, happy family).

These words, as the new road safety slogan of the year, will appear on posters in primary schools nationwide during the 2018-2019 academic year.

Awards were also given to the top 20 slogans selected from a total of 101,219 entries.

The contest, open to both Vietnamese and foreigners living in Vietnam, specified that entries should be no longer than 20 words and work under the theme of “Wearing helmets while on motorbikes and electric bikes” for participants from 6-10 years old, and “Wearing helmets for yourselves and others” for those from 11 years old.

The best among the top 10 winning slogans of the 6-10 year old group was submitted by Dinh Nguyen Minh Hai, a four grader from the Long Bien Primary School in Hanoi’s Long Bien district. His winning slogan is “Mu bao hiem, ban dong hanh, suot chang duong, em toi lop” (My helmet, a companion, along my way to school).

Of the top 10 slogans by the 11 years and above group, “Giao thong hiem hoa kho luong, doi mu bao hiem ra duong binh an” (Traffic risks are unpredictable, wear a helmet for safety) by Pham Thi Huong from Hai Duong was picked as the most excellent.

The organising board said they received a relatively equal number of entries for the two categories, with the submissions from the 6-10 years old showing greater creativity and a more flexible use of language.

Speaking at the event, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Umeda Kunio noted that this is the third year the “Traffic Safety in Vietnam with Doraemon” programme has been held in the country with warm welcome from locals.

He said he would like to see Vietnamese students wearing helmets, bearing the image of Doraemon, so they can travel to school safely.

The programme is co-organised annually by the Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Traffic Police and Japan’s Mainichi Shimbum.

In 2017, the programme had 26 extra-curricular courses, with 30,000 road safety handbooks and badges given to primary students in 13 localities nationwide. 

Doraemon, the fictional robot cat, is a famous Japanese animation character popular among children in Asia and around the world. It has served as a symbol of traffic safety for decades in Japan.

Japan first launched a traffic safety programme featuring Doraemon 30 years ago when road safety in the nation was a much bigger issue, with some 15,000 people killed by traffic accidents each year.