Washington, D.C. — It is alarmingly common for children to get hit by a vehicle while walking. Every day, 44 children are injured; that’s 16,000 kids each year.
When kids are young, they are taught to look left, right, left before crossing the street, and to cross with an adult. But as they get older, and they are no longer with an adult, it is important to teach them that walking safely goes far beyond looking both ways before they step off the curb.
With kids back in school, now is the perfect time for a refresher course on walking safety. Safe Kids Worldwide and FedEx have teamed up to create an interactive infographic that demonstrates the seven common ways kids get hit, and how to avoid it.
“In less than five minutes, walkers can learn, or be reminded, how to not get hit by a car,” said Kate Carr, President and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide. “We designed the infographic to be a fun teaching tool for parents and kids, but just about everyone recognizes themselves in the common mistakes walkers make. Drivers and walkers share the road, so we just have to be smart about it.”
About Safe Kids Worldwide
Safe Kids Worldwide is a nonprofit organization working to prevent childhood injury, the number one cause of death for children in the United States. Throughout the world, almost one million children die of an injury each year, and almost every one of these tragedies is preventable. Safe Kids works with an extensive network of more than 400 coalitions in the U.S. and with partners in more than 25 countries to reduce traffic injuries, drownings, falls, burns, poisonings and more. Since 1988, Safe Kids has helped reduce the U.S. childhood death rate from unintentional injury by 60 percent. Working together, we can do much more for kids everywhere. Join our effort at safekids.org.