AI&Me: Empowering youth for safer roads through safe school zones in Yen Bai province, Vietnam

Original article: AIP Foundation

AIP Foundation’s innovative Big Data and AI road safety program, AI&Me: Empowering Youth for Safer Roads, has been positively engaging youth to raise their voices for safe mobility across Vietnam for three years. By using the Big Data screening methodology and the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) tool developed by iRAP, 106 schools from three provinces in Vietnam were ranked from 1 to 5 star in terms of road safety level (with 1 being the lowest and least safe rating and 5 being the safest).

In Yen Bai, 22 out of 25 schools were ranked as 1 star, indicating the most dangerous level. Under the AI&Me program, the AIP Foundation collaborated with the Yen Bai Traffic Safety Committee to develop a safe school zone model at Hoang Quoc Viet High School. The modifications include new pedestrian traffic lights, crosswalks, rumble strips, steel railings to separate the footpath and the parking area for parents, road signs, and markings, as well as the installation of a 40 km/h speed limit. Notably, this is the first crosswalk painted in red in Yen Bai province, potentially serving as a model for future road upgrades. These comprehensive interventions have improved the infrastructure safety of the school entrance from 1.0 to 4.0 stars.

Apart from Hoang Quoc Viet High School, seven other schools were enhanced through donor-funded projects, and the local government created and executed 87 modification items at 13 other schools after various stakeholders, including the public and private sectors, collaborated to enhance safety.

AI for Good: Using Big Data to save lives on Vietnam roads

AIP Foundation’s three-year AI&Me: Empowering youth for Safer Roads program is supported by Fondation Botnar – a Swiss philanthropic foundation working to improve the health and well-being of young people living in cities around the world – as well as the FIA Foundation, Anditi, and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP). The Traffic Safety Committees and the Department of Education and Training of all three provinces supported the launch of the App in their areas.

Based on the results and empirical evidence from the pilot phase in three provinces in Vietnam, the AI&Me program has confirmed the viability of the approach and the potential to replicate the successful and cost-efficient intervention in other countries worldwide.

Useful Resources:

• To see photos of the road modifications, please click here. 
• To read more about the AI&Me program, please click here.