Keeping Kids Safe on the Road: Groups Provide Funding for Youth Traffic Safety in Three States

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Adam Snider (GHSA), 202-580-7930, 202-365-8971 (cell)
David Reich (NRSF), 914-325-9997

$75,000 in grants to Missouri, Oregon and Washington will enable safer walking, biking and scooting options for youth

WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the fourth straight year, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and the National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF) are funding community-based projects and programs focused on keeping youth safe while walking, biking and/or riding scooters. The State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in Missouri, Oregon and Washington will each receive $25,000 for youth safety initiatives in areas with limited financial resources. Since 2022, GHSA and NRSF have provided a total of $350,000 to support projects and initiatives that make streets safer for the youngest road users.

Preventable traffic crashes are one of the leading causes of death for young people in the United States. In 2022, the last year of complete data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 1,129 children died in crashes – an average of three deaths every day. Another 156,502 youth – 429 per day – were injured in traffic crashes. It’s especially dangerous for people not protected by a motor vehicle, especially youth. Both pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities have been on a long-term rise and reached 40-year highs in 2022.

“We owe it to our nation’s youth to do everything possible to keep them safe as they’re walking, biking and scooting,” said GHSA CEO Jonathan Adkins. “Too many communities are grappling with the impacts of dangerous driving and reduced enforcement. Empowering states to work directly with community groups can be a model to improve roadway safety for youth across the country.”

The 2025 grants will enable the SHSOs in Missouri, Oregon and Washington to support, implement and evaluate the following youth active transportation safety programs:

• The Missouri State Highway Safety Office will utilize their network of seven regional Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety chapters to coordinate and host at least ten traffic garden events at rural or high-priority elementary schools across the state. A traffic garden is a set of small-sized streets with scaled-down traffic features where children practice and learn safety skills in a fun place that is free from motor vehicles.
• The Oregon Department of Transportation, in partnership with Thrive Umpqua’s Safe Routes to School Program, will purchase a fleet of 40 bicycles, helmets and safety materials that will be used to provide hands-on bike safety education to students in at least seven low-income rural schools.
• The Washington Traffic Safety Commission and partner Asotin County Community Services will develop a permanent traffic garden, a mobile pop-up traffic garden and a corresponding traffic safety curriculum that teaches Pre-K through middle school-age children how to walk and roll safely in Asotin and Garfield Counties.

“Across the country, youth are paying the price for years of underinvestment in rural, underserved communities with limited transportation options,” said Michelle Anderson, NRSF Director of Operations. “The National Roadway Safety Foundation is again partnering with GHSA to provide data-driven grants that support affordable and sustainable transportation options in the communities where they’re most needed, so we can create a safer today and tomorrow for our youngest road users.”

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