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Image captioN: Mag Instrument (MAGLITE) Joins Forces with the Pedestrian Safety Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n
Upon the request of Tony Maglica, Sr., the 96-year-old founder and inventor of the iconic MAGLITE\u00ae flashlight, the PSI team went to work and came up with Safe Road Adventures™, a free 5-week, 15-minute-a-week curriculum that teaches kids how to be safe around vehicular traffic through core principles lessons, workbooks, drawings, and an original \u201cCross The Road\u201d song and dance with the animated characters of Maggie The Chick and her friend Sol The Duckling.<\/p>\n
For participating schools, this curriculum will culminate in a school-wide assembly, cementing the principles of roadside safety in the minds of K-5 students. For teachers, this free curriculum is an easy add-on to their current lesson plans. For parents and homeschoolers, it is a fun weekly activity that will potentially save the lives of their children.<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning these critical skills will save children’s lives, and that\u2019s why we are excited about the program,\u201d said Tony Maglica, Sr. \u201cAny time a child is killed or injured, it is devastating for the family, their friends, their school, and the community, and we are doing what we can by sponsoring this program of the Pedestrian Safety Institute to reduce the number of these tragic accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program teaches kids the importance of looking before crossing the street with the \u201clook left, right, left\u201d drill and song, teaches the importance of making sure you are seen by oncoming traffic \u201csee and be seen,\u201d and being patient when crossing the street \u201c1-2-3 wait for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States had more than 7,000 pedestrian deaths last year, and around 10% or 700 of those were children who were killed, and tens of thousands more were struck and injured, often severely,\u201d said Lou Desmond, spokesperson for PSI. \u201cIt is fantastic that MAGLITE\u00ae has stepped up and sponsored this program to help children stay safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The number of pedestrian deaths goes up when the days get darker and longer, and low visibility (darkness) is a huge factor; some 90 percent of traffic fatalities happen between the hours of dusk and dawn, according to a variety of government and private studies on the matter of pedestrian traffic deaths and injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the maker of the iconic Maglite Flashlight, lighting the darkness and providing visibility is in our DNA,\u201d said Maglica.<\/p>\n
The curriculum is available for free at www.thesaferroad.com<\/a>, and the staff at PSI are ready to assist any school that wants to implement the curriculum, which will officially be launched at the 22nd Annual School Safety Conference in Orlando, Florida.<\/p>\n