Disabled set out to create awareness about travel safety
The campaign aims to make people conscious of the statistics surrounding travel and holiday related accidents
THE Quadpara Association of Gauteng South, in association with OR Tambo International Airport, have joined forces to raise awareness about the importance of safety and injury prevention, especially when travelling.
Members are stationed in the domestic arrivals hall at OR Tambo daily from Monday to Friday until the end of August to interact with travellers, asking them to “pledge” themselves to be safe while they travel. The members are handing out pamphlets with information about myths pertaining to disability, as well as pledge stickers and other promotional items.
The campaign aims to make people conscious of the statistics surrounding travel and holiday related accidents that lead to disabilities – particularly of the critical consequences of water related accidents, texting and driving, drinking and driving and driving without seat belts.
Distracted driving is now the biggest cause of road accidents in the world and approximately 400 people in South Africa, every year, sustain serious injuries that lead to a disability as a direct result of not wearing a seat belt.
With this information in mind, the association will be asking people to make a formal WhatsApp pledge, to a free number, to take safety seriously. The aim of the campaign message is to force people to stop and think about the realities surrounding disabilities and to make safety an important, conscious part of their lives.
This pledge includes not to drink and drive, not to text and drive, to buckle up, to be safe on holiday, not to dive into a swimming pool and not to park in a wheelchair parking bay.
“We are one of the only organisations that doesn’t encourage new membership, which is why we are not there to ask for money, but rather to get people to pledge that they will stop and think before they act recklessly,” Said Norman Wright, project leader and a manager of the Quadpara Association of Gauteng South.
Supported by OR Tambo International Airport, the campaign will also seek to nurture an awareness of the need for society to change their perceptions of the disabled and to be mindful of the part that we can play in helping them to live a better life. It will remind people that disability matters.
Send your pledge to 060-659-1342.
