According to Myanmar Traffic Police and Transport Ministry’s Road Transport Administration Department (RTAD), the number of casualties is on the rise in line with the increasing number of vehicles in the country.

Myanmar recorded 15,676 road accidents last year, resulting in 4,420 casualties and 25,964 injuries.

In January 2016, there were 1,334 cases with 416 casualties and 2,116 injuries. In February, there were 1,360 cases with 413 casualties and 2,223 injuries.

“We learnt from the traffic rule enforcement supervisory committee that 12 lives are lost per day on the roads here, twice the number of deaths in 2011. So, Myanmar’s roads are among the most dangerous in Southeast Asia. We are running this campaign to help everyone make the small changes that help keep themselves safer on the roads,” said Zita Schellekens, corporate relations director of APB Alliance Brewery, the local distributor of Heineken beer.

The company launched the campaign entitled “Making Myanmar’s roads safer” in cooperation with RTAD and CESVI, an Italian international non-government organisation.

“It is a government priority to make sure people know and respect the rules of the road. Topics like no speeding, wearing seatbelts, no drunk driving, and no mobile phone usage while driving are crucial to saving lives on Myanmar’s roads. That is why we wholeheartedly support this campaign. If we work together, we can bring down the number of accidents and deaths,” said Chit Ko Ko, director general of RTAD.

Schellekens said that road safety was an issue Myanmar needed to address urgently. According to her, most accidents on city streets are caused by speeding, unsafe overtaking, drunk driving and a lack of driving experience. She blamed the lack of awareness for the increasing number of deaths caused by road accidents. She added that drivers needed to respect pedestrians who also needed to follow the rules of the road.

“The lifting of import restrictions has led to an influx of cars. As a result, Myanmar’s traffic has become more congested and dangerous, in part because there are so many inexperienced drivers on the roads. There have been many new cars and new drivers on the streets over the last few years. But many people are not aware of the traffic rules. This campaign is part of changing that,” she said.

Schellekens said APB would invest a significant amount of money in the one-year nationwide campaign, as it is the firm’s biggest corporate social responsibility initiative. But she did not mention the exact number. Last year, the firm brought a group of famous artists and singers from Yangon all the way to Mandalay, raising awareness of the public on every stop on the way. The firm has planned to continue such activities this year.

She said the campaign would be conducted in six ways – awareness raising via Facebook; a series of radio talk shows on road safety; an education programme in schools; advertisements through online media, print and billboards; release of a free game app; seven animated cartoons; and holding a national road safety conference.

The app, which aims at raising awareness on road safety by playing games, will be released in early May. The conference, bringing many players and different views together, will be held in Nay Pyi Taw in July. Policy changes are expected for reducing road accidents across the country.

Schellekens said that the campaign would place more emphasis on the areas where road accidents are the highest. Last year, Yangon region topped the list with 2,724 road accidents, resulting in 597 fatalities and 3,714 injuries.