FedEx celebrates 2014 International Walk to School Month

Conducts advocacy walk to launch this year’s ‘Walk This Way’ Initiatives

MANILA, Philippines - Manila, December 03, 2014 – FedEx Express (FedEx), a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYS: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, and Safe Kids Worldwide Philippines recently celebrated International Walk to School Month (IWTSM) with a Safety Advocacy Walk at the Commonwealth Elementary School in Quezon City.

The Walk involved representatives from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Quezon City local government to promote this year’s IWTSM theme of “Safety – A right of every pedestrian.”  The group accompanied 450 primary school students from two selected schools in Quezon City during the activity and distributed road safety handouts to pedestrians and motorists in the area.

During the celebration, FedEx announced two activities under the 2014 Walk This Way Program:

Young Road Safety Advocate

This peer-to-peer traffic safety education program will enlist fifth-grade students to mentor their fourth-grade peers about safe pedestrian behaviors.  Started in 2013, the program is expected to reach 30,000 students from 25 schools in Pasay, Paranaque, Cebu, Quezon, and Angeles Cities from November 2014 to February 2015.

Model School Zone

This initiative involves transforming a school into a Model School Zone.  FedEx volunteers will conduct workshops on proper road user behaviors and participate in crosswalk painting and road signage installation to enhance pedestrian safety for students walking through the Model School Zone.

“FedEx is dedicated to providing a safer environment for the estimated 20 million Filipino children who walk to school daily ,” said Rhicke Jennings, FedEx managing director for the Philippines and Indonesia.  “Through the Walk this Way program, we want to  increase awareness about pedestrian safety in the Philippines.  I hope that this year’s initiatives will go a long way to help address the critical safety problems on our roads that result in an estimated seven child fatalities daily .”

Walk this Way is a pedestrian advocacy program launched by FedEx and Safe Kids Worldwide Philippines in 2004.  The initiative has since reached more than one million students from 89 beneficiary schools in Pasay, Paranaque, Quezon City, Cebu, and Angeles City, Pampanga.