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The 2016 edition of the Toyota Safety School, a programme designed to teach traffic safety to kindergarten and nursery school children, will be held between May 18 and July 14 at the Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
A statement issued Tuesday in Toyota City noted that since 1975, Toyota has held the annual Toyota Safety School event to teach fundamental traffic rules―such as proper pedestrian crossing etiquette―to preschool children, saying this year’s edition will be the 42nd .
According to the statement obtained by AUTO REPORT AFRICA, the programme employs an enjoyable traffic safety performance, quizzes and other events to teach children about traffic rules. It stressed that the children also watch a video that encourages them to think about possible dangers in the traffic environment around them.
Since its inception, the programme has been conducted at 3,572 kindergartens and nursery schools, and has been attended by 255,811 pre-school children, becoming an intrinsic community activity for traffic safety education in many areas.
Toyota President, Akio Toyoda, was quoted in the statement as saying: “In the mid-seventies, accidents involving young children were on the rise. Toyota created this programme based on the belief that preventing such accidents is one of the social responsibilities of an automaker.
“The programme has been continued as an important activity for more than 40 years. Next spring, a new generation of first-year elementary school children will begin walking to school on their own. It is our hope that all of those children will be able to walk on the streets safely and make their way to and from school full of energy.
“We remain committed to helping to build prosperous communities through social contribution programs so that we are welcomed as a good neighbor and a contributing member of society that meets the needs of local residents.”
Toyota said it believes that creating a society free of traffic casualties requires an integrated approach encompassing the development of ever-safer cars and technology, improvement of the traffic environment, and traffic safety education.
It added that for this reason, commitment to traffic safety has been reaffirmed year after year as a top priority, saying this traffic safety school is one of many efforts toward that end.
