Kids learning traffic rules at a road safety camp. Photo: Wu Qiong

Teaching children traffic rules and road safety today paves the way for a safer world in the future when children have grown up. That is the vision of road safety camps organized by the Chinese operation of automaker, Peugeot, held across the country.

Its annual national road safety camps are being held in four Chinese cities, including Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Changsha. They kicked off last week at Beijing Yizhuang's 21st Experimental Kindergarten. The camp includes safety lectures, interactions between parents and kids, as well as a traffic theme park and games.

The highlight came from three free-to-download apps from Apple's iTunes store and Android. The mobile applications teach safety tips and first aid knowledge in fun, interactive games played by both parents and children.

"Children can learn necessary road safety knowledge. They can also supervise their parents to ensure they obey rules when they drive. As parents, we hope to have more activities like this in the future," said Dou Weidan, a children education expert who brought her daughter to the camp.

"Interest comes first for children. We want to make it easy for children to learn the importance of road safety," said Jean-Jacques Etchart, general manager of Peugeot China. "They can play games, which teach them safety. For things to change, we need efforts from all generations. When these kids grow up, we want them to strictly obey traffic rules."

Since 2004, Peugeot has promoted its safety education campaign using various methods, including road safety camps for children. The camps attract more than 20,000 children and 2,000 middle school students in over 150 kindergartens and middle schools across 18 Chinese cities.

"Seven years is nothing," Etchart said, referring to the length of his company's safety campaign. "We will never stop reminding people of safety."