Road safety
awareness

Road fatalities are a major contributor to unnatural deaths. Around 3 200 people are killed every day on roads around the world, with most being in low and middle-income countries. South Africa’s road mortality rate per 100 000 citizens is one of the worst in the world and road crashes account for the largest unnatural killer of children.

The Imperial Be safe, Be smart campaign is a direct response to the devastating lack of road safety awareness among children and supports government, which has identified road safety education in schools as a need. We partner with Active Education, the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Transport to ensure the success of the campaign. Every activation is supported by a community safety member or member of the traffic department. Based on our social media engagement, the campaign is well received by communities, teachers and learners.

Key challenge
and initiatives

Raising road safety awareness among children, particularly underprivileged children who are not exposed to road safety measures as their communities lack road markings and their journey to school is either on foot or in vehicles that sometimes do not have seat belts.

A critical enabler of the programme’s success and optimal road safety awareness is the use of illustrations and visually rich and exciting lessons that teach learners how to navigate scenarios.

Visit the Imperial
Road Safety website

Be safe, Be smart
campaign initiatives

Scholar road safety awareness

This initiative helps secondary school students, mostly from disadvantaged communities, prepare for their K53 learner’s licence test, and educates them on pedestrian safety, and the importance of wearing safety belts when travelling in taxis and other vehicles. We provide practical advice on obtaining a learner’s licence and guidance on the defensive driving system as well as mock learner’s licence tests. By educating future drivers we empower the youth to be smarter, safer and law-abiding road users.

Invested R1.5 million in road safety awareness in 2020

Delivered training to 50 school bus drivers

Mandated target to reach 150 schools nationwide by 2021

School bus driver training

This programme educates bus drivers on the basic principles of defensive driving and how to safely transport children in high-risk environments.

Truck blind-spot exercise

To help people better understand the limitations experienced by drivers of heavy-duty goods trucks, they are invited to sit in a truck’s cabin and count the number of children standing in the vehicle’s blind spot. The exercise teaches responsible pedestrian behaviour, including giving truck drivers the right of way to avoid dangerous and potentially fatal incidents.

Health and wellness roadshows

As an immediate need, a COVID-19 Be safe, Be smart roadshow is being rolled out to support schools in their reopening after lockdown and has been extremely well received.

Car seats
for kids

The Imperial Car Seats for Kids campaign aims to drive awareness around the correct use of car seats and child restraints in South Africa, while encouraging consumers to donate their old car seats to families who can’t afford one.

We know that buckling up – whether you are an adult or a child – saves lives and this campaign aims to not only educate around this fact, and the correct way of strapping children in, but also to ensure that we form part of the change we want to see on our roads.

Due to their passion for child restraint and education, Imperial has partnered with Wheel Well for this campaign. Their expertise in the cleaning, safety assessments and distribution of these seats to those in need are crucial to road safety.

We hope that this campaign will continue changing the lives of those less fortunate.

Safer roads start with YOU!

Click to visit
the Car Seats for Kids microsite

Brake and Tyre
Watch

This initiative is designed to raise transport operator’s awareness around the subject of efficient braking and tyre checking and is linked to preventative maintenance on trucks, including all safety critical items such as lighting, reflectives, etc.

The project is also intended to empower traffic officials with specialised knowledge, enabling them to perform better in their profession and intervene more frequently in taking unroadworthy heavy vehicles off our roads.

Click here to visit the
Brake and Tyre watch website:

Previous