Washington, DC – Safe Kids DC, led by Children’s National Health System, and FedEx Corporation recently convened a Safe School Zone task force of community leaders committed to child pedestrian safety and reducing the number of injured pedestrians.
FedEx provided Safe Kids DC with a Safe School Zone grant of $40,000 to improve the school zone around Ketcham Elementary School in Anacostia. These changes will improve the walking conditions for pedestrians around the intersections along Good Hope Road Southeast in Washington, DC.
According to a local public safety campaign, each year in the District of Columbia there are roughly 2,600 pedestrians and bicyclists injured on the roads.
Local data indicated that in 2010, injured child pedestrians who had been struck and required transport to Children’s National increased 26 percent. Fifty-five percent of those children came from neighborhoods in Southeast.
Representatives from organizations such as Children’s National, District of Columbia Public Schools, the District Department of Transportation, AAA, FedEx, and others came together during a two-day workshop to discuss pedestrian safety in the District and put together an action plan for improving pedestrian safety for local elementary schools in the community.
The group found that three intersections along Good Hope Road Southeast near Ketcham Elementary demonstrated pedestrian safety problems resulting in crashes. The safety campaign will include specific treatments such as new signage, high visibility crosswalk markings and educational outreach at the school.
“These changes will not only help to ensure the safety of the more than 300 District children at Ketcham Elementary, but also positively affect their families and the surrounding community,” said Sally Wilson, RN, BSN, Education Prevention and Outreach Coordinator at Children’s National and Facilitator, Safe Kids DC.
The group also committed to providing pedestrian safety education to students at four other elementary schools in the Southeast section of the District.
“Safe Kids DC is about preventing unintentional childhood injury, and so we felt compelled to expand our pedestrian safety outreach to other schools in need,” said Wilson.
Every year an average of 500 U.S. children under age 19 die from pedestrian-related injuries, and more than 22,000 go to the emergency department for similar injuries. Safe Kids DC activities are designed to help children walk safely all year round.
Experts from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center (UNC HSRC) led the workshop with Safe Kids DC and provided assistance in assessing the local school zones and shaping an action plan for improvement.
Contact: Emily Hartman or Caitlyn Camacho at 202-476-4500.
# # #
About Safe Kids DCSafe Kids DC works to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the leading cause of death and disability in children ages one to 19. Its members include the AAA, Children’s National Health System, and the DC Department of Transportation. Safe Kids DC is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing unintentional injury. Safe Kids DC was founded in 1999 and is led by Children’s National Health System.
About FedEx Corp.
FedEx Corp (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce, and business services. With annual revenues of $44 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 300,000 team members to remain “absolutely, positively” focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards, and the needs of their customers and communities. For more information, visit news.fedex.com.