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Students Step Out

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2008

They put on their sneakers, grabbed their backpacks and walked to school Wednesday. Deer Park, Gulf Highlands, New River and Seven Oaks elementary students and families participated in the International Walk to School Day.

The event promoted a healthy lifestyle, said Virginia McKenna, a secretary at Deer Park Elementary School.

Walk to School Day was part of the Walk This Way safety program. Safe Kids USA and FedEx developed the program in 2000 to bring national and local attention to pedestrian safety issues. Pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States for children ages 5 to 14, claiming the lives of 566 children in 2006, a news release stated. In 2006, more than 32,590 children were treated in emergency rooms for pedestrian-related injuries.

All Children's Hospital and FedEx helped at each of the schools.

Deer Park's business partner, Publix at River Crossing, donated and served healthy snacks, including bananas, orange slices and apple and orange juice.

Parents had the option of walking their children to school or taking them to three meeting points where Deer Park staff members met students and walked with them to school.

Participation was good, McKenna said, and greatly cut back on traffic near the school and the number of parents dropping off their children.

"We've always had great participation," McKenna said.

Mary Hitt McCoy
WALK THIS WAY
•Stop at corners and follow pedestrian signals.

•Always look left, right, left before crossing the street.

•Make eye contact with drivers before crossing. Just because you can see the driver doesn't mean the driver can see you. Keep looking left, right and left again as you cross the street to make sure no cars are coming.

•Never run when you are crossing the street. Never dart out into traffic or cross between parked cars. Instead, cross at corners where drivers can see you better.

•Walk on sidewalks. If there's no sidewalk, walk on the right side of the street so you're facing the cars as they drive past you. Walk as far to the right as possible, even if that means walking on the grass.

Source: Safe Kids Florida, Suncoast Pasco Council

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