Back to School - Let's Keep Kids Alive

The school year is upon us. What can we as parents and concerned neighbors do to enhance safety for children walking and riding, and as motorists committed to create safe roadways for all who walk, ride, and drive?

Here are a couple of facts to consider:

Did you know?

• Over 80% of speeders on our neighborhood streets live right in the neighborhood (Collective data, law enforcement throughout U.S.)
• 200 pedestrian deaths and 17,000 injuries occur each year as a result of drivers running stop signs (Safe Kids Worldwide)

Here's what we each can do:

• Keep speed at 25 mph or slower on neighborhood streets and observe the posted speed limit in school zones. Especially take care to drive slower than the posted limit when we see kids at play, pedestrians, cyclists, or the weather turns nasty

• Stop! Take 3 To See at every single stop sign - even if no one is present. We become good at stopping by practicing - come to a complete stop, look left, look right, look left again. Make sure the coast really is clear (be especially mindful when turning right as most motorists just look left and proceed without regard for a pedestrian or cyclist who may be approaching on a sidewalk). Repeat these steps whenever pedestrians of any age are crossing as crosswalks in school zones as well as all roadways. Stop! Take 3 To See also works as a way to teach children of all ages how to cross the street safely - start with using marked crosswalks.

• Hang Up and Drive - Help Keep Everyone Alive! Use of a cellular device, hands-free included, slows our reaction time to that of a driver at .09 under the influence of alcohol - above the legal limit of .08. Being on a cellular device can kill someone as surely as a gun can - just ask the over 3,500 families who last year received a visit from an officer to inform them that their loved one died at the hands of a driver distracted by a cellular device.

Ask these two questions:

Who do I love?

Who loves me?

Your answers to these questions should be all the reasons any of us ever needs to buckle up, put cellular devices aside, observe speed limits, stop at stop signs - in short, practice all the behaviors that keep ourselves and others safe on and around roadways.

Let's each do our part to make our streets safe for all who walk, ride, play, and drive. For more, visit www.KeepKidsAliveDrive25.org