Police, Teachers to Walk to School With Kids on Oct. 5

Safe Kids Northern NJ, the Jefferson Township police department, FedEx, and community leaders from Jefferson will walk with children at White Rock School in Oak Ridge to advocate for safer walking environments for children on Oct. 5 at 8 a.m., International Walk to School Day.  Volunteers will walk to school with students to identify unsafe intersections, streets needing sidewalks, and dangerous areas where pedestrians have either been hit or nearly injured by a motor vehicle.

Nationwide, Safe Kids USA and participating schools will hold more than 1,000 International Walk to School Day activities as part of the Safe Kids Walk This Way pedestrian safety program.  For the twelfth year, Safe Kids coalitions are teaming up with hundreds of FedEx volunteers to teach children how to be safer pedestrians as they walk to and from school and raise awareness around specific pedestrian dangers or issues in their community.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among children ages 3 to 14 worldwide.  While the number of child pedestrians injured in traffic crashes are decreasing in the United States, in 2009, more than 13,000 children ages 14 and under went to the emergency room and 244 children died from pedestrian-related injuries.   Safe Kids Northern NJ activities are designed to help children walk safely all year round.

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.  Safe Kids Northern NJ works to prevent accidental childhood injury, the leading cause of death and disability for children ages 1 to 14 under. Its members include Jefferson police department, municipalities and injury prevention advocates throughout Morris, Warren and Sussex Counties.  

Safe Kids Northern NJ is a member of Safe Kids USA, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing accidental injury. Safe Kids Northern NJ was founded in 2000 and is led by Atlantic Health’s Morristown Medical Center.  For more information, visit www.safekids.org.