Education sessions held in Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, from Wednesday to Friday
300 seniors in Hwaseong, 400 children in Pyeongtaek take part
Dedicated senior program introduced for the first time this year
Volvo Trucks Korea announced Tuesday that it had expanded its Stop-Look-Wave road safety campaign — previously focused on children — to include senior citizens this year, holding traffic safety education sessions for 300 seniors in Hwaseong and 400 children in Pyeongtaek, both in Gyeonggi Province, from Wednesday to Friday.
The SLW (Stop-Look-Wave) campaign teaches pedestrians to stop, look both ways and make eye contact with drivers before crossing the road safely. Volvo Trucks launched it globally in 2014 as a corporate social responsibility program, and it now operates in more than 30 countries.
This year, Volvo Trucks Korea added a dedicated senior program alongside the existing children's curriculum to strengthen road safety education for vulnerable groups, broadening the campaign's reach to two generations.
On Wednesday, the senior program was held at the Hwaseong Southern Senior Welfare Center for 300 older residents, while the children's program ran Thursday and Friday at the Pyeongtaek Agricultural Ecology Park for 400 children.
The newly introduced senior program was designed to share practical pedestrian safety tips that older adults — a group considered particularly vulnerable to traffic accidents on foot — can easily apply in daily life. Organizers partnered with the Hwaseong Southern Senior Welfare Center to hold sessions in a familiar community setting, encouraging comfortable participation. Rather than relying solely on lectures, the program combined theory lessons with an SLW song, senior-friendly dance routines, safety games and hands-on activities to help participants absorb road safety rules naturally.
Industrial products company 3M joined the senior program as a partner, providing 300 reflective safety stickers for participants to attach to their clothing, walking canes or bags, and distributing fluorescent safety keyrings to help older adults stay visible while walking.
The children's program ran twice daily over two days, with 100 children per session in two-hour blocks, organized in collaboration with the Pyeongtaek Daycare Center Association, the Pyeongtaek Police Station's traffic division and the Pyeongtaek Agricultural Ecology Park.
At the venue entrance, children were greeted by a tall clown performing balloon art and a digital tattoo booth using body-safe ink. Inside, they learned the Stop, Look and Wave safety rules before heading outdoors to practice crossing a pedestrian crossing and boarding an actual Volvo electric truck to experience the blind spots of a large commercial vehicle firsthand.
Michelin Korea also participated in the children's program, joining the children for video screenings, pop-up book readings and coloring activities, and presenting each child with a road safety pop-up book.
Volvo Trucks Korea plans to produce an SLW music video featuring footage of the children at the campaign, the natural scenery of the Pyeongtaek Agricultural Ecology Park and scenes from the senior program filmed on Wednesday. The video, featuring both generations, is set to be released on the company's official YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, Volvo Trucks Korea has been running a range of customer service initiatives, including a service camp and safety campaign held in September that toured nine locations nationwide from Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province to Yangsan in South Gyeongsang Province to inspect customer vehicles.
likehyo85@heraldcorp.com
