Safe Kids logo on FedEx No. 11 Toyota Camry in Sonoma race celebrating 17 years of working together
Washington, D.C.
In an exciting finish to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Sonoma Raceway, Denny Hamlin drove the No. 11 FedEx Cares car to a second place finish. Safe Kids Worldwide is honored to be highlighted in the paint scheme of this car to represent FedEx's commitment to road safety and grateful to receive an $11,000 donation from FedEx to continue their work on pedestrian safety.
In 2000, FedEx and Safe Kids created the Walk This Way program to bring international, national and local attention to pedestrian safety issues. Every day, 44 children are hit by a car while walking in the United States. That's 16,000 kids hurt every year. The program has been highly successful in reducing pedestrian death to children. From 2000 to 2014 there was a 41 percent reduction in the number of children dying from pedestrian related injuries.
Safe Kids, with support from FedEx, hosts a variety of events to teach children of all ages how to walk safely. Together, they provide pedestrian safety education during the back-to-school season, celebrate International Walk to School Day in October, host events promoting visibility during Halloween and conduct other events throughout the year. The two organizations also work together to create safer school zones for children, including reducing speed limits, installing traffic lights and signals and improving road conditions.
“As a company with more than 90,000 vehicles on the road, safety is always our most important priority,” said Matthew Thornton, III, Senior Vice President, United States Operations, FedEx. “Helping our children walk safety to school is something the entire community can rally behind. That's why we work with Safe Kids to support education, awareness and improvements to the areas where children are most at risk when walking.”
“We have a long history of working with FedEx to protect kids on the move. Since we started working together in 2000 we have reached more than 15 million children with information on how to walk safely,” said Kate Carr, President and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide. “We are so pleased that this collaboration was highlighted at the Sprint Cup Race.”
Safe Kids Worldwide and FedEx recommend the following tips to protect kids on the move while walking.
5 Tips for Safe Walking
- Teach kids at an early age to look left, right and left again before crossing the street. Then remind them to continue looking until safely across.
- Teach kids to put phones, headphones and devices down when crossing the street.
- It’s always best to walk on sidewalks or paths and cross at street corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks. If there are no sidewalks, walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible.
- Children under 10 need to cross the street with an adult. Every child is different, but developmentally, most kids are unable to judge speed and distance of oncoming cars until age 10.
- If kids are walking when it’s dark out, teach them to be especially alert and make sure they are visible to drivers. Have them wear light or brightly colored clothing and reflective gear.
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About Safe Kids Worldwide
Safe Kids Worldwide is a nonprofit organization working to prevent childhood injury, the number one cause of death for children in the United States. Throughout the world, almost one million children die of an injury each year, and almost every one of these tragedies is preventable. Safe Kids works with an extensive network of more than 400 coalitions in the U.S. and with partners in more than 30 countries to reduce traffic injuries, drownings, falls, burns, poisonings and more. Since 1988, Safe Kids has helped reduce the U.S. childhood death rate from unintentional injury by 60 percent. Working together, we can do much more for kids everywhere. Join our effort at safekids.org.
About FedEx Corp.
FedEx provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $49 billion (not including TNT Express), the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its nearly 400,000 team members to remain “absolutely, positively” focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities to connect people and possibilities around the world. For more information, please visit www.fedex.com.
