Highland Park Elementary Principal Ben Ostrom accepts a check from Safe Kids Seattle and FedEx for pedestrian improvements from Dr. Brian Johnston, Chief of the Pediatrics Department at Harborview Hospital. During the year, improvements will be made to crosswalks in the 'Walk Zone' around the school.
Highland Park Elementary School held a special assembly on Wedneday April, 25 to celebrate and announce the award of a $25,000 check from FedEx and through Safe Kids Seattle, intended to be spent on permanent walking improvements for child pedestrians (and bike riders) in the Highland Park community.
Safe Kids Seattle and FedEx assembled a pedestrian safety task force of community leaders interested in child pedestrian safety. FedEx provided the Safe Kids task force with the grant to work throughout 2012 to make changes that improve the permanent walking conditions for child pedestrians. The City of Seattle has matched and exceeded that grant with a $75,000 additional grant for the program through Safe Routes to School.
The crosswalks at 10th s.w. and 11th s.w. and Trenton will both be improved under the program. The crosswalks on Holden and other sites in the "walk zone" will also be improved.
The Pedestrian Safety Assembly marks the kickoff for the yearlong effort to enhance safety at Highland Park. The event also celebrated national walk/bike month and included a safety presentation by the Seattle Police Department's Tomeka Williams. This is the thirteenth year the Safe Kids Walk This Way program has been active in communities across the United States.
In the assembly Dr. Brian Johnston, Chief of the Pediatrics Department of Harborview spoke to the children about the importance of safety. Dr. Johnston presented the check to Principal Ben Ostrom.
Dr. Johnston explained why he was there, "We see the end result of lots of bad decisions, bad engineering, bad supervision and whenever we have the opportunity we try to get out and promote prevention and safety."
Principal Ostrom reacted to the check, "We're really excited to be able to figure out how to get kids to school in a way that ensures they'll be safe and also doing healthy activities," he said.
In Seattle, approximately 120 children per year are struck by motor vehicles. Nationwide every year more than 244 children ages 14 and under die from pedestrian-related injuries and more than 13,000 go to the emergency room. Safe Kids Seattle activities are designed to help children walk safely all year round.
About Walk This Way
In 1999, Safe Kids Worldwide and program sponsor FedEx created the Safe Kids Walk This Way program to teach safe behaviors to motorists and child pedestrians and create safer, more walkable communities. Every day, more than 80,000 FedEx vehicles are on the road, sharing the streets with pedestrians, fueling the company's dedication to pedestrian safety and sharing the lessons of safe driving that FedEx has learned over the past 35-plus years.
About Safe Kids USA
Safe Kids Seattle works to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the leading cause of death and disability to children ages 1 to 14. Safe Kids Seattle is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing unintentional injury. Safe Kids Seattle was founded in 2009 and is led by Harborview Medical Center.
About FedEx Corp.
provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $41 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 290,000 team members to remain "absolutely, positively" focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities.