Active Kids Need Proactive Protection!
Reflective fashion is "way cool!" - especially when it reduces your children's risk of accident.Every day, children stand on corners awaiting school buses in pre-daylight hours. At dusk and later, they spill out of buses following after-school activities. In their busy, energetic lives, safety and visibility - the ability to be seen by others - is seldom their chief concern. But their safety is a major concern for you.
Consider these U.S. statistics:
- Each year, more than 1,700 children and youths die as a result of pedestrian injuries.
- Pedestrian injuries are the third leading cause of death to children ages one to four.
- Kids ages five to nine are far more likely to die as pedestrians than as occupants in motor vehicles.
- Together, motor vehicle-related injuries (including kids as occupants, pedestrians and bicyclists) are the number one cause of death for all children - more than 10,000 deaths per year.
You can help protect your child from becoming one of these statistics. Here are a few tips:
- Teach your child that, even though your child can see an approaching vehicle, the driver of the vehicle may not see your child.
- Practice walking with your child facing traffic, and show him or her how to hug the side of the road.
- Carry a flashlight when walking along a road, and teach your child how to use it.
- Look for children's clothing, shoes and accessories with Scotchlite™ reflective material from 3M. It makes children more visible to motorists. It has what scientists call "excellent angularity," meaning it can be seen from direct and wide-angle approaches. And it's durable, retaining its brightness through many wearings, many washings.
Help Your Kids Shine!
Studies by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety show that 80 percent of respondents believe that simply wearing white clothing at night provides adequate visibility to drivers. The fact is, it does not. Nor does fluorescent clothing.
The chart below shows the superior reflectivity - hence, visibility - of Scotchlite™ reflective material compared to dark, fluorescent and white clothing. It's a distinction that can mean the difference between being seen or not seen, safety or danger, your child's life or death.
