HALO BEANIES: A VISIBILITY CAMPAIGN FOR CHILD PEDESTRIANS
Have you heard about our Halo Beanies campaign aimed at child pedestrian safety?
In 2020, 1765 child pedestrians lost their lives on our roads. For Wheel Well, this was a call to action to try and keep our young pedestrians safe. From this, our Halo Beanie project was born. We named them Halo Beanies due to the strip of high visibility reflective yarn stitched around the beanie. This helps make children more visible to drivers on the road.
Halo Beanies is a visibility campaign for child pedestrians because “children should be seen, not hurt”.
CHILD PEDESTRIANS AT RISK
South Africa has a large population of low-income families, while many struggle against a high and growing unemployment rate. The barrier to entry to school is already high for children from these families. For many, reliable and safe transport is a “luxury” many cannot afford. This leaves many young pupils having to walk to school – for some, a journey that can take as long as two hours or more! An article from the Associated Press highlights the harrowing dangers children face daily while taking the long walk to school. Rural and poorer regions experience these dangers more frequently where little to no services exist to help families.
In addition to the socio-economic factors at play, child pedestrians are also vulnerable for other reasons. By their nature, children tend to be unpredictable. They have a less developed sense of awareness for the world around them. Children are also less capable of making correct judgements on the speed and distance of oncoming vehicles.
Another aspect to consider is that compared to the size of a vehicle, a child is very small. Younger children are shorter than the height of the front of a vehicle or the windows, which means that they are far less visible to drivers. This problem is further exacerbated by low light or adverse weather conditions. Along with their lack of awareness and unpredictable behaviour, a driver may not notice a child, putting them at huge risk of getting run over by a car.
A 2020 technical guide released by UNICEF on Child & Adolescent Road Safety states that “increasing the visibility of children using the road is demonstrated to be promising in reducing pedestrian injuries”.
Our Halo Beanies make child pedestrians more visible to drivers so that they can navigate around them more safely.
HOW DOES OUR HALO BEANIE CAMPAIGN WORK?
The Halo Beanie campaign relies on our community to take part in this project. Not only do sponsorships fund this campaign but we also need knitters and crocheters to donate their time and skills.
Sponsorship and funding allow us to create “Beanie Packs”. Each pack contains reflective yarn, wool in various colours, crochet hooks, knitting needles, patterns, instructions, and leaflets on the benefits of reflective gear. We then distribute these to Rotary Clubs and knitting clubs around the country. From each beanie pack, clubs can create at least 100 beanies. Once complete, beanies are then handed out at schools to children at no cost to them.
Wheel Well oversees the logistics of distributing the materials to various clubs, listening to their feedback and ensuring the beanies make their way onto the heads of those who need them most.
We opted to create beanies for this project as they are cost-effective and less likely to be taken off by children while playing. They are also easily stored in a school bag without taking up space. Additionally, kids enjoy the bright colours. Beanies also keep them a little warmer in the winter months when the days are shorter with longer periods of darkness and low visibility, giving kids extra motivation to wear them.
HELP US BRIGHTEN A CHILD’S LIFE!
This year kicked off with some fantastic donations from Suzuki, Dooya and The Rotary Satellite Club of Sandton. They have collectively sponsored 2000 beanies in the form of Beanie Packs. A huge thank you to them for investing in the safety of our child pedestrians!
If you or your business would like to sponsor a Beanie Pack, get in touch with us. Each beanie pack (100 beanies) with all materials requires a sponsorship of R2700. For companies, consider allocating your annual Corporate Social Investment (CSI) spend towards this project to help us make a difference – more information on that here.
Wheel Well is also in need of knitters and crocheters to help create our Halo Beanies. If you belong to a knitting or crafting group, please consider donating your time and make this your group’s next project. On average, a beanie takes about 2 hours to knit – likely faster if you are a master of your knitting needles.
Winter is drawing near and so many children would enjoy the warmth and safety of a Halo Beanie! Our beanie packs contain everything you need to create 100 beanies with no extra materials required.
Child safety is a community effort and never more true than in our Halo Beanie campaign. It takes a village to raise a child (and keep them safe), so we hope you will join our “village” of road safety for children. Help us make child pedestrians safer on our dangerous roads and remove one of the many barriers children face in getting an education in South Africa.
For more information on this campaign and to get involved, please don’t hesitate to contact Wheel Well.