News Hundreds of Children Join Safe Kids Austin on International Walk and Bike to School Day

Austin, TX - (October 7, 2009) - Safe Kids Austin, led by Dell Children's Medical Center, will be joined by FedEx volunteers, Safe Routes to School Austin, and local middle school students and staff on Wednesday, Oct. 7 to raise awareness of pedestrian and bike safety on International Walk and Bike to School Day. Child pedestrian injury remains the number two cause of unintentional injury death among children ages 5 to 14 in the U.S. One out of every three child pedestrian deaths occurs between 3 and 7 p.m., it is especially important for children to learn pedestrian safety tips that will help make them safer as they walk home from school in the afternoon.

"International Walk to School Day is an opportunity for students to learn safe pedestrian behaviors that will help keep them alive and injury-free as they walk to and from school," said Tareka Wheeler Safe Kids Austin coordinator. "It is one thing to tell students about pedestrian safety, but by walking with them on International Walk to School Day, we can show them proper behaviors and give them the tools to be safer pedestrians. No child should be put in danger simply because they are walking to school or around their neighborhood."

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. Over the past 10 years, the program has expanded to include Brazil, Canada, China, India, South Korea and the Philippines. In 2009, the program will be launched in Thailand and Vietnam.

"Safety is one of our company's core values, and we have been dedicated to improving child pedestrian safety through the Safe Kids Walk This Way program for a decade," said Lionel Salaiz, Fed Ex Express Operations Manager. "Our employees have worked hand-in-hand with Safe Kids Austin to teach Austin area children how to stay safer when they walk for 9 years. Safe Kids Austin and its' partners do a wonderful job in our community and we look forward to continuing to help them make walking safer for everyone."

Last year, Safe Kids USA launched PHOTOVOICE: Children's Perspectives on Road Traffic Safety to educate area children on how to be safe pedestrians. More than 1,600 students in seven countries captured photos and commented on what they saw on the roadways.

This year, Safe Kids Austin is partnering with the Safe Routes to School Project to launch PHOTVOICE at Martin Middle School. Martin students will utilize cameras to take photographs of their walking environments, documenting pedestrian and driver behaviors as well as the potential hazards to these children as they walked to school. Their photographs will focus on important local pedestrian and bike safety issues.

Program sponsor FedEx provided a special grant to fund the improvements in honor of the Safe Kids Walk This Way program's 10-year anniversary. The 16 coalitions across the United States and six international member countries participating in the project received grants totaling close to $100,000.