Mika Häkkinen is ambassador to DaimlerChrysler’s worldwide road safety initiative MobileKids. The two time Formula One World Champion announced this on the occasion of the DTM Race at the Nürburgring. As MobileKids ambassador, Häkkinen intends to show commitment to the objectives of this initiative: “As a father of two children, I know how much depends on the implementation of the MobileKids idea. My dream is that all children, wherever they may be in the world, can move safely and without danger in road traffic. That’s why I’m becoming involved in MobileKids.”

Why MobileKids?

According to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO), accidents in road traffic are the most frequent cause of death among children in Europe. On a worldwide scale, too, injuries in road accidents are one of the greatest threats to the well-being of young people. WHO warns that this type of accident could become the world’s most frequent “preventable cause of death” by 2020. To counteract this trend and to strengthen the position of these most vulnerable participants in traffic, especially of the already highly mobile 10 to 15-year-olds, DaimlerChrysler in 2001 developed the worldwide concept “MobileKids” in cooperation with international road safety experts. This initiative sets out to arouse enthusiasm for road safety among children throughout the world. With the online city “Mokitown”, the TV series “The Nimbols” and experience roadshows, MobileKids intends to sharpen children’s awareness of appropriate behavior in road traffic in an entertaining manner. The boys and girls learn in a playful way how to better assess their own situation, recognize hazards in good time and avoid them through careful behavior.

The Internet city “Mokitown”, which has already won several awards, comprises a series of games that call for conscious mobility behavior and mobility strategies. The offline game “Energy Island” in the virtual children’s city unites the aspect of a responsible attitude to one’s own mobility with awareness of the limited nature of resources and ecological responsibility. Mokitown numbers almost 800,000 registered users worldwide.

No less successful was the 2004 launch of the series “The Nimbols” in German television, in which road safety is communicated through the characters and their attitudes towards mobility. When the children participate in the Nimbols’ adventures, they learn from and together with the Nimbols in a humorous and entertaining manner how important it is, for example, to always wear a helmet, to fasten one’s Seat belt in the car, not to play on or next to the road, or to maintain one’s bicycle and skateboard in good working order. This 26-part TV series, produced in German and English, is distributed worldwide.

Both the children’s virtual city “Mokitown” and the Internet appearance of the animated series “The Nimbols” are accessible via the joint Internet platform www.mobilekids.net.

Mika Häkkinen, born in Finland on September 28, 1968, was Formula One World Champion in 1998 and 1999 with McLaren-Mercedes. Häkkinen participated in Formula One events for the last time in the 2001 season. Since 2005 he has been participating in the German Touring Car Masters with AMG-Mercedes. Mika Häkkinen has one son and one daughter and lives with his wife and children in Monaco.