The South Jersey Traffic Safety Alliance has assumed the role as Lead Organization for the Atlantic and Cape May Counties Safe Kids Coalition. The Safe Kids Atlantic/Cape Coalition was founded in 2002 with the Alliance as a founding member.
Teresa Thomas, SJTSA Program Manager said “We believe it is a natural fit given that motor vehicle occupant injuries and pedestrian injuries are two of the four leading causes of accidental injury deaths for children under 14.”
Safe Kids is a nationwide network of organizations working together to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the number one killer of children under the age of 14. According to the national statistics, the four deadliest kinds of injuries for children under 14 are: suffocation (19), motor vehicle occupant injuries (16%), drowning (16%), and pedestrian incidents (11%).
The Coalition Coordinator for Safe Kids Atlantic/Cape is Cape May County resident Barbi Harris, RN. Ms. Harris is a pediatric nurse and Nationally Certified Child Passenger Safety Instructor. Ms. Harris serves on the National Child Passenger Safety Board and has volunteered with Operation Smile on more than 35 international missions. Harris said “Local statistics follow the national trend so we hope to concentrate our efforts on the top three risk areas, child passenger safety, water safety and pedestrian safety.”
Atlantic/Cape Safe Kids currently runs three monthly fitting stations where families can get their car seats checked and maintains several life jacket loaner programs at local marinas.
Anyone and everyone interested in participating or with connections to the community are asked to attend the meeting and get on the mailing list. The meeting is Thursday, November 17 at 10:30 am at the Ocean City Library. Agenda items include: review of goals and objectives for the coalition, present statistical data, review programs currently in place, and solicit input.
Those interested in attending or being placed on the mailing list should email safekids@sjtsa.org or download the registration form from www.sjtsa.org. For more information on safe kids visit www.usa.safekids.org.
Villas – I guess Kamala Harris was just too honest, too intelligent and too sane of a person to win an election in a racist, sexist, backward country like America.
