Safe Kids Allegheny County and FedEx Improve Child Pedestrian Safety on International Walk to School Day

WHAT: Safe Kids Allegheny County will join local school children and FedEx volunteers to raise awareness about child pedestrian safety on International Walk to School Day. Volunteers will teach children how to be safe pedestrians as they walk to and from school.

Kids from Woolslair Elementary School (Lawrenceville) and Phillips Elementary School (South Side) will participate in this year’s activities as part of the Safe Kids Walk This Way program.  2011 marks the 12th year of the program and the partnership with FedEx.

More than 250,000 children across the United States and nearly three million around the world will participate in the annual event to learn about walking safely and to encourage the creation of safe walking environments.

WHY: Over a million people worldwide die on roads every year, according to the World Health Organization. In May, the United Nations launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety to bring attention to this global epidemic. In the United States, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among children ages 3 to 14. While the number of child pedestrians injured in traffic crashes are decreasing in the U.S., in 2009, more than 13,000 children, ages 14 and under went to the emergency room and 244 children died from pedestrian-related injuries.

In 1999, Safe Kids Worldwide and program sponsor FedEx created the Safe Kids Walk This Way Program in the United States to teach safe behaviors to motorists and child pedestrians and create safer, more walkable communities. There are 189 Safe Kids coalitions and 400 schools across the country will hold more than 1,000 local events at elementary schools to teach children how to walk safely and recognize pedestrian dangers.

WHO: Safe Kids Allegheny County representatives, FedEx volunteers and more than 400 students, parents, teachers and administrators from two elementary schools in the region.  

WHEN: 7:30 to 9 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011               

WHERE: Woolslair Elementary School, 501 40th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15224; and Phillips Elementary School, 1901 Sarah Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Note to Media: Media interested in attending are asked to attend the event at the Woolslair location.  For directions, please contact Andrea Kunicky at 412-692-6254.