Pictured are Dick Ziegler – Local Catalyst for the campaign – Tom Everson, Founder of KEEP KIDS ALIVE DRIVE 25®, Ruth Ziegler, Teacher for the Future Business Leaders of America Class at Friend High School.

Each weekday morning, commuters and carpool drivers across the U.S. begin their day by pulling out of their driveways and cruising through their neighborhoods. Meanwhile, students are shouldering their backpacks and heading for school or for the bus stop. And when those same tired commuters point themselves toward home in the evening, lots of kids are out playing, riding their bikes, shooting hoops and otherwise enjoying themselves.

It's always been a dangerous combination. The most recent federal data shows that in 2002, the number of speed-related traffic deaths on local roadways was almost double that for interstate highways. But in the past seven years, about 650 communities in 46 states have joined a campaign to make neighborhood streets safer for kids. It's called Keep Kids Alive Drive 25.

Inspired by a Morning Jog

The organization got its start after a 1998 morning jog by Tom Everson of Omaha, Nebraska. As cars sped by going well over the posted speed limit of 25, Everson (a father of four) found himself worrying about what a car going that fast could do to a child crossing the street. A slogan popped into his head: "Keep kids alive, drive 25."

Could that simple, catchy phrase encourage drivers to hit the brakes? Everson and his wife Wendy had a yard sign made and posted it in front of their house. "I would count the number of cars going by at different intervals and check how many drivers hit the brakes when they saw the sign," says Everson, a youth minister and former high school teacher and coach. The results of this informal experiment helped convince the Eversons they were on to something: 75 percent of drivers hit their brakes after seeing the sign.

So the Eversons founded a non-profit organization called Keep Kids Alive, Drive 25 to put that slogan in front of the driving public. The yard sign remains their primary tool now supplemented by stickers and decals. The sale of products bearing the KKAD25 logo and slogan are an important source of funding for the group, as are donations and grants.

Strength Through Partnerships

Tom Everson, the public face of KKAD25, travels frequently to meet with and speak to interested groups in communities around the country. The organization often teams up with police and sheriffs' departments, for whom residential speeding is an ongoing frustration. Police can respond to citizen complaints by setting up an officer with a radar gun to ticket speeders, but once the police officer leaves, speeding returns.

"The yard signs are a sane solution to the problem of residential speeding," says Everson. They don't tie up police resources, and a recently completed study on the effectiveness of Keep Kids Alive yard signs in Oceanside, California documented a 16 percent decrease in driver's average speed (about a 6 mph decline)—solid support for Everson's earlier front-yard survey.

Based on those results, the city of Oceanside, which is located about 35 miles north of San Diego, began purchasing hundreds of KKAD25 yard signs, offering them free to resident groups to use on a rotating basis.

"A benefit of KKAD25 is that now we have something to offer citizens who want to take proactive steps to reduce speeding in neighborhoods," says John Amberson, a transportation planner with the city of Oceanside.

The Numbers

Traffic safety statistics are the weapons Everson uses to make the case for his basic premise—that lower speed limits in residential neighborhoods will mean fewer children's injuries and deaths.

Some of the key numbers he cites when addressing PTAs, police groups, businesses, city councils and state legislatures come from the latest statistics gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):

• In 2002, 3,385 speed-related deaths occurred on local roadways, which includes neighborhood streets. This is in contrast to 1,799 speed-related deaths on Interstate highways, making local roadways almost twice as deadly.
• More than one-fifth of children between ages 5 and 9 killed in traffic incidents in 2001 were pedestrians.
• A pedestrian hit by a vehicle traveling 30 mph is three times more likely to die than a pedestrian hit by a vehicle traveling 25 mph.

It's that last statistic that has hit hundreds of community leaders between the eyes and has captured the interest of the 140 police and sheriffs' departments that are involved with KKAD25.

Behind the Signs

Obviously, it takes more than a yard sign to permanently lower drivers' speeds in neighborhoods. "You can't just change a number on a sign and expect people's behavior to change," Everson explains. "You need an educational effort and an engaged citizenry behind that effort."

Some of those efforts include:

• Drive Smart Colorado Springs, Colo., has passed out thousands of Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 key chains to high school-age drivers.
• Escondido, Calif., posted a Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 sign at the exit driveway of all elementary schools as a reminder to drivers as they head into neighborhoods.
• Oro Valley, Ariz., city leaders have distributed Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 decals for citizens to affix to their trash cans for constant reminders in neighborhoods. The community has twice-a-week trash pickup.
• Every May, the city of New Berlin, Wis., has a month-long Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 campaign to keep the issue in the forefront.
• Palisades Insurance Company partners with Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 in New Jersey by educating their agents and policyholders about the campaign.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska underwrote the cost of 2,000 bumper stickers for distribution at safety fairs, schools and YMCAs.
• The Board of Aldermen in St. Peters, Mo., has started a city-wide campaign and is asking businesses to donate to the cause.

Changing Laws

Sadly, the Eversons' efforts to get the word out about KKAD25 frequently are precipitated by tragic incidents. Injuries, and in three cases the deaths of children, are the spur for many of the initial contacts Everson receives from community groups.

Barbara Foster watched in horror two years ago as a pickup truck struck and killed her 10-year-old son Kyle in front of their home in Mesquite, Texas. At the time, the city's residential speed limit was 30 mph. After learning about KKAD25 from a friend, Foster put her grief into action and three months later went before her city council seeking a reduction in the speed limit to 25 mph on neighborhood streets. But in Texas, as in many states, residential speed limits are set by state government. Foster learned the limit could not be changed without a costly traffic engineering study.

However, Texas state legislator Rep. Elvira Reyna, who was moved by Kyle's death, wrote a bill to allow cities to lower speed limits on residential streets without conducting traffic studies. Everson was one of those who testified before the Texas Legislature on the wisdom of the measure. The law passed this spring.

"The estimate for the traffic engineering study in Mesquite was $2 million," Everson says. "City officials have said it will cost only about $43,000 to change the speed limit signs to 25. Why spend $2 million to tell us what should be a no-brainer? I call this common-sense legislation."

Since he testified, Everson says he has had inquiries about KKAD25 from police departments in Austin, Houston and El Paso, as well as those in several medium-sized Texas cities.

Everson is optimistic about the campaign's ability to have an impact. "I liken the way we're growing to the smoke-free environments and recycling movements in the '70s," he says. "The education is going on, but the driving behavior is not a reality yet. We have to keep coaching and eventually we'll get there."

Resources:

• Learn more at the KKAD25 web site or contact the Eversons at (402) 334-1391.
• Slow Down for Children advocates for measures to keep kids safe on the streets around their schools, specifically by enforcing a 15 MPH school zone speed limit.
• Road Ready Teens provides resources for parents and teens to ensure that teens are ready for the responsibilities that come with a driver's license.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gathers data and provides resources on all kinds of traffic-related issues.

Cindy Murphy McMahon is a freelance writer and editor based in Omaha, Nebraska.