Every May, public buildings light up in yellow, drivers tie ribbons to their mirrors and schools pause to talk about a subject that usually stays quiet: the number of people who leave home and never come back because of traffic. This is Yellow May, and it pairs surprisingly well with what your Club already does best, which is serving the community and caring for life.
The action does not require a big budget or fancy equipment. It requires planning, a little courage to talk to public authorities and the willingness to be out on the street on a Saturday morning. A group of Pathfinders in their vests, handing out yellow ribbons at a busy corner, says more than many posters.
In this guide you will find the origin of the movement, the real size of the problem in Brazil, six field-tested ideas for action and the biblical grounding that holds it all together. By the end, the difference between Yellow May and Yellow September will be perfectly clear.
Where Yellow May came from
The movement is younger than it seems. It was created in 2014 by the National Road Safety Observatory, a Brazilian organization, within a larger international context. In 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations had declared the period from 2011 to 2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, a worldwide effort to reduce deaths on the roads.
The date of the UN resolution explains the choice of month. The document was published on May 11, 2011, and that is why May became the symbolic month of the cause in Brazil. The color has its own logic too: yellow is the color of attention and warning in traffic, present in traffic lights and in the signs that ask for caution before a dangerous stretch.
The most recognized symbol is the yellow ribbon, the same ribbon shape used in other awareness campaigns. It works as a silent invitation: anyone who sees the yellow ribbon on someone's arm, or tied to the gate of a house, understands that there are people there thinking about life in traffic. For your Club, this ribbon is the cheapest and most visible entry tool there is.
The size of the problem (and why it is preventable)
The numbers of Brazilian traffic are hard to ignore. According to the consolidated data from DataSUS, the country recorded 34,881 traffic deaths in 2023. That amounts to nearly a hundred people a day, every day, all year long. After years of decline between 2014 and 2019, the curve began to climb again, which makes awareness even more urgent.
One slice of that total hits the Club's teenagers close to home: of those killed in 2023, about 13,477 were motorcyclists, almost 39 percent of the total. The motorbike is the transport of many older brothers, cousins and neighbors of your Pathfinders. Talking about helmets stops being theory and becomes a conversation about people they know.
The heart of the campaign is in one word: preventable. Most of these deaths have known, behavioral causes, such as speeding, drinking and driving, phone in hand and no seatbelt or helmet. None of them is an accident in the sense of an unforeseeable fate. They are choices, and choices can change when someone decides to inform instead of staying silent. That is exactly where a group of young people in uniform makes a difference.
The educational checkpoint: the core of the action
The educational checkpoint is the most striking action of Yellow May, and also the one that demands the most preparation. The golden rule comes first: a Pathfinder does not stop cars, does not approach a driver alone and does not act as an enforcement officer. Legal authority to stop vehicles belongs to the traffic agent. The Club's role is to support, inform and hand out material, always within an authorized spot and supervised by adults.
The first step, then, is to contact the traffic authority of your city or the state traffic department at least a month in advance. Many of them have road-safety education departments that love partnerships and already have the structure for a checkpoint. Bring a simple letter signed by the Directors, explaining who the Club is, how many young people will take part and the intended date. This contact tends to open doors quickly.
On the day, the mechanics are calm. The agent stops the vehicle for a few seconds, and a Pathfinder hands the driver a yellow ribbon and a short flyer, with a kind phrase like have a good trip. Have a script ready with what to say and what never to say, so that no one improvises a speech. A Counselor stays beside each pair, and the Director coordinates the spot together with the agent. The team's safety comes before any goal of flyers handed out.
Read alsoHow to choose the right service project: the neighborhood diagnosisTheater, a banner for life and five more ideas
Not every Club can secure an official checkpoint, and that is fine. There is plenty of powerful work to do without stopping a single car. Street theater about safe crossing is one of the most effective. Build a short scene, three to four minutes, in which one character crosses outside the crosswalk while looking at a phone and a second character shows the right way, using the crosswalk and looking both ways. Perform it in a square or in front of the church, repeat it a few times and let the neighborhood children watch. Humor helps the message stick.
The human banner for life produces photos that travel across social media. Line up the Pathfinders on the sidewalk of a busy avenue, each one holding a letter, forming a phrase like drive with love or respect life. Plan for a time with good traffic flow, request permission if it is necessary to occupy the roadway and keep everyone behind the curb, never on the road. A friendly honk from a passing driver is worth more than applause.
Other fronts round out the week. A short talk about seatbelts and helmets, preferably with a traffic agent or a health professional as a guest, teaches the basics that save lives. The campaign on the Club's social media multiplies the reach: post the data, show the action and use the movement's official tag. You can also tie yellow ribbons to the church gate and to the trees on the block, hand out ribbons as people leave the service and set up a display in the Club room with the golden rules for pedestrians and passengers. Choose two or three of these ideas and do them well, rather than trying all of them at once.
Why this is a Pathfinder's business
Someone might ask what a road safety campaign has to do with a Christian club. The answer lies in one of the best-known sayings of Jesus. When asked which was the greatest commandment, He named love for God and added, according to Mark 12:31 in the New International Version: "Love your neighbor as yourself." The driver going by, the elderly pedestrian on the corner, the motorcyclist in a hurry, all of them are the neighbor. Caring for their lives on the street is a concrete and anything but abstract way of living out this commandment.
The book of Proverbs adds the side of prudence. In Proverbs 22:3, also in the New International Version, it reads: "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty." Seeing danger and acting in time is pure biblical wisdom. Buckling the seatbelt, respecting the signal and putting the phone away are acts of prudence that protect one's own life and the lives of those nearby. The Pathfinder who learns this at twelve carries the lesson for life, including for the day they get their own driver's license.
Community service has been at the heart of the movement since its founding, and Yellow May fits perfectly into that calling. If your Club wants to go deeper on this side, take a look at the general guide to community service, which helps you plan any social action with purpose. The cause of road safety is one among many, and all of them are born of the same place: truly loving the people around you.
Yellow May is not Yellow September
Two campaigns use the color yellow and happen in the same year, which often causes confusion. It is worth nailing down the difference before the action, so that no one in the Club mixes up the messages when talking to the public.
Yellow May is about road safety. It talks about speed, seatbelts, helmets, drinking and driving and respect for pedestrians. The yellow color comes from road signage, the color of attention. Yellow September is a different campaign, dedicated to suicide prevention and to valuing life from the standpoint of mental health. These are two serious and important subjects, each with its own audience and approach.
The table below sums up the distinction for you to print and post on the Club board.
| Aspect | Yellow May | Yellow September |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | Road safety | Suicide prevention |
| Month | May | September |
| Origin of the date | UN resolution of May 2011 | World Suicide Prevention Day, September 10 |
| Focus of the action | Behavior in traffic | Support and mental health |
A suggested schedule for your Club
A well-run action begins before May. In the previous month, mark the date on the program, talk to the Directors and make the first contact with the traffic authority. Decide which of the ideas, or which ones, the Club will carry out, according to the number of Pathfinders and the availability of the Counselors. It is also the time to budget for the material, which usually comes down to yellow ribbons and printing flyers.
In the two weeks before, get to work. Rehearse the theater if it is in the plan, prepare the checkpoint script, make the letters for the human banner and produce the ribbons. Involve the parents in this stage, because cutting ribbon and assembling flyers makes for a pleasant evening of family preparation. Confirm in writing the presence of the traffic agent, if the partnership was arranged.
On the Saturday of the action, arrive early, hold a prayer with the whole team and review the golden rules of safety before anything else. Keep water, sunscreen and a basic first-aid kit on hand, with an adult responsible for it. Record everything in photos and video for the social media campaign. The following week, formally thank the partner authority and gather the Club to assess what worked. That closing turns a beautiful morning into learning that comes back stronger the next year.