Dr Fiona Martin MP, Federal Member for Reid, is encouraging families who are planning their summer holiday trips to keep the importance of child pedestrian road safety in mind.
Dr Martin is an Ambassador of the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that works to educate and protect child pedestrians.
“The Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation plays an important role in child pedestrian road safety initiatives by educating and advocating to keep our most vulnerable pedestrians safe,” Dr Martin said.
“As COVID-19 restricts holiday travel to local destinations, regional areas will see a spike in visitors during the upcoming summer holidays, which means it’s more important than ever to have a chat with children about road safety.”
The Foundation’s ‘It’s Holiday Time: Slow Down, Kids Around’ signage campaign launches every December across 65 councils in four states. The campaign was established in an effort to protect very vulnerable child pedestrians during the holiday period.
Current data from the Australian Institute of Health and welfare indicates that the most common cause of death of children aged 1-14 years is road trauma.
Michelle McLaughlin, CEO of the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation hopes that the campaign will raise critical awareness of the importance of road safety for children in unfamiliar environments.
“Since we lost our four-year-old son Tom in 2014, another 391 children have lost their lives to road trauma,” Ms McLaughlin said.
“So, my simple message is to always talk to your children about road safety and be even more vigilant when you are on holiday because they are more excited than normal and always remember to continue to hold their hands around roadways until they are 10,” she added.
The campaign targets all road users including; child pedestrians, accompanying adult pedestrian carers and drivers to make them aware of the increased risk of road trauma while on holiday.
The campaign is endorsed and supported by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, Little Blue Dinosaur Ambassador, and Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, Paul Fletcher MP and Fiona Martin, Federal Member for Reid.
