Safe Kids USA and FedEx Team Up to Focus on Children's Views of Road Safety around the World

On International Walk to School Day child safety partners introduce PHOTOVOICE, an international photojournalism project

WASHINGTON - Child safety advocates at Safe Kids USA are hoping that a new photojournalism program will be an important step in making kids safer pedestrians around the world.

PHOTOVOICE: Children's Perspectives on Road Traffic Safety gave kids ages nine to 14 across the United States the opportunity to photograph and write about the environments they encounter as they walk to school, helping them learn about road safety and become safer pedestrians. Children from Brazil, Canada, China, India, South Korea, and the Philippines also participated in this global project.

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The international PHOTOVOICE exhibit will be displayed at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA from Sept. 27-Oct. 10, at the Safe Kids Child Injury Prevention Conference in Washington, D.C. from Oct. 13-18, and at The World Bank in Washington, D.C. from Oct. 20-24 in observance of International Walk to School Month.

A grant from FedEx Corp. enabled the Safe Kids Worldwide's Walk This Way program to teach children about safe pedestrian behavior while working with schools and communities to improve walking environments.

PHOTOVOICE: Children's Perspectives on Road Traffic Safety

The 1,676 child participants of the PHOTOVOICE project took photographs of their pedestrian environments, including behaviors demonstrated by pedestrians and drivers, as well as dangerous obstacles and conditions that the children felt posed a risk to their pedestrian safety.

"By chronicling their environments, identifying risk factors and distinguishing between safe and unsafe pedestrian behaviors, PHOTOVOICE is helping kids become safer pedestrians all around the world," said Mitch Stoller, president and chief executive officer of Safe Kids Worldwide.

Selected photos, each accompanied by an editorial statement from the child photographer, will be on display in Washington, D.C. as well as in 50 communities across the United States. Additionally, the display will be in seven international cities - Beijing, Manila, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Toronto to celebrate International Walk to School Month in October. For more information or to view the photo exhibits, visit www.safekids.org/walk.

International Walk to School Day Events Planned in U.S.

This is the ninth year that Safe Kids Worldwide and FedEx have joined together for the Safe Kids Walk This Way program, which began in the United States in 2000. Through the program, children learn about important behaviors for walking safely. This year, as part of the program in the United States, more than 150 Safe Kids coalitions across the country will hold local educational events, including press conferences, and mass walks to and from school, to shine a light on a particular pedestrian safety issue in their communities. Some important local issues include unsafe intersections, barriers to walking, unmarked crossings streets where there are no safe sidewalks and dangerous areas where more than one pedestrian has either been hit or almost injured by a car.

Road Traffic Injuries are the Leading Cause of Death among Young People Worldwide

In the United States, pedestrian injuries are the second leading cause of accidental death among children ages 5 to 14. Across the country each year, approximately 626 children ages 0 to 14 are killed and 38,500 sustain nonfatal pedestrian injuries. In 2006, there were 32,590 emergency room visits by children for pedestrian-related injuries. For more information about the risk of child pedestrian injury in the United States, and other child safety issues, visit www.usa.safekids.org/wtw.

According to the World Health Organization, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death worldwide among young people aged 10-24 years. Each year nearly 400,000 people under 25 die on the world's roads - that's an average of more than 1,000 deaths each day. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries and among vulnerable road users - pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and those using public transport.

Safe Kids Walk This Way, a grassroots pedestrian safety initiative in more than 600 schools nationwide, is made possible through support from program sponsor FedEx. Through this year-round program, children learn safe pedestrian behaviors; school communities identify the pedestrian hazards surrounding their schools; and school pedestrian safety committees and task forces lead efforts to educate pedestrians and drivers about safe behaviors, enforce traffic laws and improve environments for child pedestrians.

International Walk to School Day is dedicated to walking to school with a purpose - to promote physical activity, safety, health and concern for the environment. International Walk to School Day is promoted nationally by The Partnership for a Walkable America. www.walktoschool.org.

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