Road Safety

We target children and young persons through our school advocacy campaigns as we believe that good road habits must be inculcated from a young age. Further, children are able to be effective influencers to their parents and family members as they can share what they have learned in school. During our school advocacy campaigns, we set up a road safety circuit for the students, from which they can learn about pedestrian safety, basic knowledge of road signs and passenger safety. These lessons are supplemented by our Road Safety Tips Booklets.

We believe that in order to be able to advocate road safety to the public, we have to start by instilling this knowledge amongst our internal stakeholders. Our road safety volunteers are required to attend a special training by JKJR before they are awarded the title of “Road Safety Ambassador”. Road Safety Ambassadors can further equip themselves with potentially life-saving skills by attending First Aid training.

On top of the Road Safety Ambassador trainings, we also organise a number of workshops for our employees, particularly those who are required to be on the road for work purposes. These include the Defensive Riding & Bikers Emergency Workshop held for our despatch riders, the Safe & Responsible Driving Workshop, and the Road Survival Programme. These programmes cover various road-related topics, such as common causes of accidents, effective motorbike maneuvering, defensive measures that can be taken to avoid accidents, breakdown safety, first aid knowledge and emergency response in road traffic situations.

We have taken efforts to develop innovative ways to engage the general public. In conjunction with the 2014 World Cup, we rolled out the F1™ Road Safety Soccer Street Contest via Allianz Malaysia’s Facebook page. Fans of the page were required to watch a video clip that was posted, answer a question - “What is Nico Rosberg’s advice to drivers?”, and share the 1 Thing That Matters to them on Road Safety. This contest leveraged on our F1™ sponsorship platform, where popular icons such as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton helped to spread road safety messages through a series of videos.

Allianz Malaysia organised joint road safety campaigns with Petrosains and Smart Reader Kids to instill important road safety behaviour among the students of Smart Reader Kids between the ages of 5 and 6 years old as well as visitors of Petronas Street Smart on 30 May 2015. At the campaign, they learned how to recognise basic road signs and crafted their own road safety pins; an activity that was managed by Petronas Street Smart’s facilitators.

Parents, teachers and visitors also had the opportunity to experience eight interactive road safety exhibits in Petronas Street Smart which highlighted different factors affecting road safety.

In July 2013 KidZania Kuala Lumpur and Allianz Malaysia hosted a workshop to enhance awareness of road safety among children. Apart from the existing theme park role-playing activities designed to educate and inspire, 50 lucky visitors comprising children and parents were treated to a unique opportunity to be part of a workshop focused on providing road safety tips in an easy and relatable way. Children learnt the essentials, from the importance of using seatbelts, recognising road signs as well as etiquette that should be adopted to minimise distraction in cars.

The children were tasked to take on an interactive mission before they can be certified as Allianz-Kidzania Road Safety Ambassadors by completing a step-by-step process. Children took a simulation test, obtained a driver’s license as well as a car insurance policy from Allianz’s establishment in KidZania to guard their safety. The children then took a ride on a child-sized car before completing a quiz on road safety which tested their new-found knowledge. To recognise the participants, KidZania and Allianz awarded them with certificates and the role as Allianz-KidZania Road Safety Ambassadors. On the day, 30 units of child safety booster seats were also distributed to visitors of KidZania.

Allianz Malaysia believes that safe walking should be a basic right and supports the call on safer roads for all. In support of this, we have taken part in the Zenani Campaign’s initiative, the Long Short Walk for 2 years in 2013 and 2014.

The Long Short Walk is held in memory of 13-year old Zenani Mandela, Nelson's Mandela's great-granddaughter who was killed in a crash. It constitutes lots of short walks that combine into one Long Walk: a call for action for safe walking. During our Long Short Walk, Allianz Malaysia employees and JKJR representatives distribute reflective wristbands with the printed message “Be safe Be seen” to pedestrians. They also collect road safety pledges with messages such as “I am walking for safer roads for pedestrians” and “I am walking for safer routes to schools” to create awareness on road safety for pedestrians.

Our reflective wristbands are distributed to pedestrians to increase their visibility in low light circumstances. We find that these wristbands are particularly useful for schoolchildren, who are likely to have to travel to school early in the morning; and runners, who may start their runs early in the morning or jog at night. The wristbands are also a fun way to encourage dressing brightly for visibility purposes.

Child Safety Booster Seats are given to motorists with children who are too short to use the regular car seatbelts but too tall for a child car seat. The Booster Seat acts to boost the child’s height so that the seatbelt fits them comfortably and safely. According to the World Health Organisation, infant seats, child seats and booster seats can reduce child deaths by 54–80% in the event of a crash.

At our Road Safety Advocacy Campaigns, we exchange old and/or unsafe motorcycle helmets for new, SIRIM-certified ones. According to the World Health Organisation, wearing a good quality helmet can reduce the risk of death from a road crash by 40% and the risk of severe injury by over 70%. Our exchanged helmets also come with advice from our Road Safety Ambassadors, explaining for example, the importance of helmet wearing and the average lifespan of a helmet.

Reflective stickers made of visibility enhancing material are given to motorcyclists at our campaigns with the aim of enhancing their visibility in low light conditions, such as early in the morning or when riding at night. These seemingly unobtrusive stickers can have a great impact as they are able to reflect light up to 100 metres away. According to a Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (“MIROS”) study, the conspicuousness factor was found to be the highest crash occurrence factor among motorcyclists, at 40%.

Similar to the reflective stickers, our reflective windbreakers which are also given out to motorcyclists serve the purpose of increasing the visibility of a motorcyclist in low light conditions. Reflective strips located along the sleeves and torso section of the windbreaker aim to keep the motorcyclist visible when car headlights or streetlamps shine on him or her. It also has the added bonus of providing light protection against the sun and rain.

A new initiative in 2014 was the Road Safety Tips Booklet which was developed internally by Allianz in consultation with JKJR. It provides handy tips on road safety for children aged four to twelve years old. The booklet serves as a post-campaign reminder tool for students as well as a teaching tool for teachers and parents following our Road Safety Advocacy Campaigns in schools. Allianz also developed a Road Safety Tips puzzle to complement the booklet, which will help teachers facilitate road safety lessons.