PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of preventable death for New York City children between the ages of 5 and 14. In addition, approximately 3,500 children in this age group are injured each year as pedestrians on New York City streets. New York City children are increasingly mobile and are at high risk on streets. They walk to and from school, ride in cars and buses, and drive bicycles, frequently without the supervision of an adult.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Safety City project is to help prevent injuries to children. Specific objectives include:

Building children's self-esteem and encouraging them to take responsibility for their own safety

Encouraging children to share the traffic safety information they learn with friends, family members and others in the community

Providing children with the information they need to intervene on behalf of others

Reducing preventable traffic injuries and fatalities in the community by involving community groups and volunteers in the educational process

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

Safety City uses both traditional classroom education and hands-on practice in an outdoor realistic, yet protected street and intersection. At Safety City's Indoor Learning Center, participating students from community schools take part in activities designed to build self-esteem and strengthen their ability to make safer choices. The classroom experience includes informational videos and up-to-date learning materials. In Safety City's Outdoor Simulated Environment, students practice their safety skills on a fenced-in street and

Safety City (cont'd)

intersection. The area has real cars and trucks, pavement markings, traffic and pedestrian signals and street signs. The children demonstrate that they can cross streets safely in a variety of situations.

Safety City's instructors are specially trained traffic safety experts from the Office of Safety Education. The curriculum they use is one that has been specifically designed to meet the needs of the northern Manhattan community. Police officers from the local precinct, Department of Transportation traffic enforcement agents, health care providers, and volunteer school crossing guards also speak to the children at Safety City, reminding them to use their safety skills.

Classroom teachers reinforce what the children have learned by conducting follow-up activities suggested by the Safety City Teacher's Guide. The children become "Safety Deputies" by sharing what they have learned and spreading the safety message beyond the classroom into the community. In addition, Safety City's central message, that every child has the power to make safe decisions, can be applied to other health issues such as nutrition and substance abuse. Junior and senior high school students are encouraged to serve as role models and assist with operations at Safety City and graduates of the program can return as interns and volunteers.

RESULTS

Thousands of children have visited Safety City during its years of operation. The Harlem Hospital Injury Prevention Program has conducted an independent evaluation of the program by monitoring the number of children admitted to the hospital's Pediatric Trauma Unit due to motor vehicle collisions. Their study indicates that there has been a 50 percent reduction in motor vehicle-related admissions since the inception of the Safety City program in central Harlem. This represents an average savings of $14,000 in hospitalization costs for every child who remains healthy and uninjured. As the number of pedestrian injuries decreases, there is a corresponding decrease in the number of temporarily or permanently disabled children who require multiple (and expensive) services such as home instruction, rehabilitation, or long-term institutionalization.