What's In Your Wallet? The Best Reasons to Keep Kids Alive!

Dear Friends in Traffic Safety,

Sometimes people ask, "Why Keep Kids Alive Drive 25?" Why drive the speed limit, or slower in the presence of pedestrians, children at play, and cyclists? Also, "Why stop at stop signs?" A lot of times no one is even around.

The simple answer to these questions resides right in your wallet. Most people carry photos of loved ones. If you fit this category, take out your wallet and take a long look at the photos of people you love, and who love you as well.

The simple, and best, reason to drive the speed limit and to stop at stop signs is that by doing so we each do our part to keep the loved ones of others, as well as ourselves, alive. A AAA study showed that speeders are 3 times more likely to cause a crash than those who do not speed. A Safe Kids International study reported that an average of 200 pedestrian deaths and 17,000 injuries occur each year as a result of drivers running stop signs.

The only way any of us can become accomplished at any skill is by practicing it over and over and over. When we practice driving the speed limit, and adjusting downward as people and weather conditions dictate, we become part of the solution of lowering death and injury rates on our neighborhood streets, and beyond. Similarly, when we Stop! Take 3 To See at every stop sign, we become well-versed in practicing a behavior that will make a difference the one time (or more) that a bike, running child, or other motor vehicle seemingly appears out of nowhere. We will have done the one thing necessary to prevent a tragedy, not only for another person, but also for ourselves. No one wants to be behind the wheel and hit someone. Yet, if we speed and run stop signs, we put ourselves in the position to be the person who harms someone’s loved one. And by violating the rules of the road, we are at fault.

As summer approaches, more kids are out and about, and people of all ages are out walking and riding. Take the time to mobilize your neighborhood by starting a Keep Kids Alive Drive 25® campaign, or simply place a KKAD25 yard sign on your lawn to remind yourself and others of the need to take it slowly. The life saved could be someone you love. Remember to look in your wallet and remind yourself of loved ones staring back at you from those photos. They will always be the best reason to commit to keep all kids alive. To get started, simply click on KKAD25 Start-up.

In safety,
Tom Everson
Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 - A Non-Profit Organization
www.KeepKidsAliveDrive25.org