Dickinson"s "Safety City" provides comprehensive safety education for children

Project Characteristics Program Areas Comprehensive safety education Innovative Safe Communities Targeted Audience Jurisdiction Children ages 4-6 Community

Goals

• Decrease motor vehicle related fatalities and injuries to youth by providing classroom training and hand-on-experience
• Provide safety education to children in the early stages of development
• Conduct a morning and afternoon session with a class size of 25 and not more than 30
• Have 12 speakers teaching comprehensive safety education
• Provide daily education on various safety topics through repetition during the two-week session.

Strategies

Safety City was opened in connection with data collected from the summertime injury hospital data. Safety city is a comprehensive safety education program for children ages 4-6. Children have fun learning about fire, animal, bicycle, railroad, and electrical poison, school bus, safety belts, farm and water safety and stranger danger. Students' practice riding bikes and crossing streets in a miniature city setting. The sessions are two weeks long for one half a day with guest speakers, activities and games. Buckle Bear makes an appearance for approximately 20 minutes to give the children a quick overview.

Results

• This year 51 area youth attended the two-week session and were educated on many safety issues.
• Children received activity packets, fingerprint card and photo I.D., bicycle helmet, t-shirt and graduation certificate and a key to Safety City.