In 2009, Bridgestone Europe conducted more than 58,000 tire checks on a Pan — European level.

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The “dreams at heArt” drawing contest for children aims to encourage our future leaders to start thinking about environment and road safety while they are still young, and invites them to express their creativity in drawings and paintings. The 2009 theme was “Safe Travel in a Greener World”. Approximately 56,000 primary school children from 25 European countries joined the drawing contest.

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“Drive Fit” is a fitness training program for drivers aimed at overcoming the physical strain of modern motoring, especially long trips. It was developed in partnership with sports experts and doctors, for use in motorway rest areas, fitness clubs and at home. Point-of-sale material, brochures, a DVD and Web site support the campaign. Our campaign “Drive Fit — Arrive Safe” has been nominated for an Econ Award — much coveted by the German marketing community.

To prevent traffic accidents, Bridgestone Deutschland GmbH teammates installed three speed displays in areas with frequent traffic accidents. Installed in September, which marks the beginning of the school year, these displays are helping to ensure the safety of children on their way to and from school.

In cooperation with “Deutsche Verkehrswacht” — a German charity organization covering road safety instructions and education — we help to prevent traffic accidents by providing activities for children, with a box which contains games and materials, to sharpen senses and to develop the motor functions during growth. Those “Move it” boxes are handed over to elementary schools and kindergarten together with tire dealers and car dealers.

Along with Bridgestone's Road Safety activities, the Municipal Police of Thessaloniki (Salonica) organaizes road safety activities and ELASTRAK (a distributor in Greece) supports it. This event involved the education of 1,200 students on Road Safety in a large one day event. ELASTRAK sent Dummy with balloons and distributed “THINK BEFORE YOU DRIVE” leaflets to all the children.

In Hungary, groups of approximately 20 Bridgestone volunteers working in two shifts helped improve their local community by clearing litter from a popular leisure spot on a mountain overlooking the Tatabanya tire plant.

In Hungary, volunteers at Tatabanya Manufacturing helped a local primary school near the plant to build a new children's playground. In two shifts of 20 people, the volunteers leveled the ground and sowed the grass to finish the area.

In May and June 2009, in cooperation with the Polish police and the public rescue team, Bridgestone Poland visited 40 kindergartens to educate a total of more than 4,000 children about road safety.

Bridgestone Poland teammates held a training seminar about safe driving and braking on wet surfaces at their test center. This seminar, which was offered to the families and friends of teammates, included safe driving lectures and driving demonstrations.
Approximately 1,100 people attended this seminar, and many of them felt that their driving skills had improved as a result.

In order to support the Week of Sustainable Transportation in Spain, Bridgestone's Burgos plant organized a bicycle tour for teammates and other interested people. The purpose of the event, which was organized with the assistance of local organizations, was to promote the use of bicycles as a “green” mode of transportation. In total, over 200 participants registered for the event.

As part of the fresh water campaign, Bridgestone teammates contributed to creating awareness of the importance of water. In June-July 2008, the first environment month was held and teammates, their families and Burgos society participated. This event included an opening conference, “Global warming,” presented by Juana M Manrique, leader of “The climate project;” a visit to the water treatment station; and a visit to the Burgos plant garden.

On March 14th, teammates from the Burgos plant and their families helped improve the environment of their local community. Working in four groups, the 120 volunteers planted 160 trees, which was registered with the UNEP “Billion Trees Campaign” (www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/­).

In June 2009, a safety event was held at a shopping mall in Moscow. People were encouraged to understand the importance of routine tire inspections and tire safety information through distributing safety booklets and holding a safety quiz contest inside the mall, as well as free tire check services in the outside parking lot.

More than 120 Bridgestone teammates across South Africa have attended a driving improvement course offered by a driving skills company. An initial seminar on defensive and economical driving is followed by a 50-minute practical on-road training session for each trainee, showing how to put their newly learned skills into practice in preparation for a practical test that they take upon completion of the course. Participants are already showing positive results after only three months with an almost 13 percent saving in fuel consumption.

Bridgestone South Africa conducts tire pressure and tire condition surveys at supermarkets around the country. The aim of these surveys is to gather data regarding the condition of tires in order to establish a general benchmark — the Bridgestone National Tire Pressure Index. Eight surveys have thus far been conducted, with a total of more than 10,000 tires being inspected. This index is utilized to support tire safety activities in South Africa. Information leaflets about safety are left on the windscreens of all vehicles checked with comments on the condition and pressure of their vehicles tires.

“Rally to Read” is an annual literacy development program, in partnership with McCarthy Limited, to improve the quality of literacy teaching in remote, rural South African schools. The program distributes reading books and school stationery to children and teachers. The management and employees of Bridgestone attend the annual rally in different regions and assist with the distribution of goods to the selected schools.

Bridgestone South America teammates distributed safety posters to educate school children to the importance of tire safety and seat belt usage while traveling in a vehicle. Over 1,000 posters have been distributed nationally.

In partnership with FleetWatch magazine, WABCO Automotive South Africa, and Alfa International, we trained metro police officials at testing stations. The training includes helping the local police look for any irregularities or unsafe tire and brake conditions on trucks and buses on South African roads.

The Bloemendal Hydroponics Project is an innovative social upliftment initiative aimed at assisting the local community to grow vegetables for both their own consumption and for sale. The disadvantaged beneficiaries are taught to become self-sufficient and move away from a welfare environment.
Bridgestone South Africa is the first company to sponsor a greenhouse tunnel project.

Baby Care Centre is for the care of abandoned Aids orphans. Teammates contribute to this home for the purchase of baby formula, clothing and educational aids for these babies and children.

The Breast Cancer Mobile Unit is a program that educates women in disadvantaged South African communities on the importance of the early detection of breast cancer and offers the opportunity for these women to receive free breast checks in their communities. These mobile breast cancer education and mammography trucks provide easy-to-understand visual material in the country’s different languages and teach the correct techniques for breast self-examination. We sponsored the truck tires on these vehicles.

The Cape Leopard Trust facilitates the conservation of the Western Cape's predators through the combination of conservation strategies, research projects and tourism initiatives. The Trust operates in wilderness areas in the Cederberg, Swartberg/Gamka corridor and Namaqualand areas and operates five Toyota Hilux double cab bakkies for which we provided tires. These vehicles travel very rocky and rugged areas in the mountains.

Monetary pledges were received by all teammates in order to make a donation to a school for physically disabled people, and contributed to schools in five regions of South Africa.