Approximately 3,500 children are injured on New York City streets each year. Today children are more mobile than ever and frequently travel without the protection of an adult. Children are at high risk on our streets. They cannot tell exactly where sounds come from or judge the speed of traffic and their field of vision is one third that of adults.

Co-sponsored by the New York City Department of Transportation, Safety City is a special place for children to learn hands-on how to make safer choices as pedestrians, on bicycles, skates and scooters, and in motor vehicles. The Safety City curriculum teaches safety as a decision-making process using tools rather than rules to build self-esteem and a sense of responsibility for oneself and others. The learning-by-doing teaching methods keep children looking, listening, and examining. As active participants in the education process, children internalize behaviors that will help keep them safe for a lifetime.

The intensive Safety City experience consists of a pre-visit to the children’s school by safety educators, a full day visit by the class to Safety City, and a post-visit to the children’s school. At the pre-visit, educators conduct preparatory activities including a pre-test and letter writing to parents and guardians. The Safety City on-site visit is a full day of indoor and outdoor activities. In the classroom, children explore and discuss safety concepts, role play, sing along with interactive videos, and create safety art work. Outdoors, they practice skills such as crossing the street, putting on safety gear and driving bicycles on a simulated street and intersection with real signs, signals and markings. At the post-visit educators conduct follow-up activities such as listening games and creating a bulletin board about safety.

Follow-up is a critical part of Safety City through which traffic safety issues are reinforced throughout the entire school year and children can share what they’ve learned with others. Children are encouraged to enter our Traffic Safety Calendar Contest and submit poems, stories, and art work for our YES for Kids safety magazine. Older students can adopt a class and serve as safety mentors to younger children at their school. Children who graduate from Safety City and participate in follow-up activities become Safety City Deputies and receive special certificates.

With six locations, Safety City serves 30,000 children annually citywide. A true community program, Safety City utilizes local volunteer parents, teachers, crossing guards, health professionals, and Police Officers to assist instructors at each site.

Safety City has made a significant impact on the reduction of traffic deaths and injuries to children. In the three years following the implementation of the first Safety City program in central Harlem in 1989, the Columbia University School of Public Health found that admissions to Harlem Hospital's Pediatric Trauma Unit due to motor vehicle-related crashes had dropped by 55 percent. Our innovative curriculum has won awards from AAA and Allstate.

According to the New York City Bar Association, there are approximately one million New Yorkers with some type of disability. In New York City schools public schools alone, there are approximately 20,000 students with moderate, severe, and profound disabilities. New Yorkers with mobility, hearing, visual, and cognitive impairments, those who have been affected by the aging process, and those with a wide range of literacy and language skills face increased risks when traveling on our city’s streets. Adults aged 65 and over, who are more likely to have impaired vision, hearing, or mobility, account for over 30% of the city’s pedestrian fatalities, though they make up only 13% of the population.

Yet, this population is under-served by educational programs because of a lack of accessible facilities and materials. To make safety programs accessible to those with special needs, we opened Access Safety City in 2002 with help from a donation by IBM. Located at West 158th Street and Riverside Drive, Access Safety City is a “universally” designed Safety City facility that has been modified to serve people with a wide array of physical, mental, and cognitive skills and abilities.

Access Safety City design elements such as an unobstructed, slip resistant route through all activity areas, adjustable height tables to accommodate wheelchairs, and a clear line of site to blackboards and other classroom visual aids offer mobility impaired visitors access to all program activities. Closed caption TV decoders, telecommunication devices and other assistive learning devices are provided for hearing impaired visitors. Magnifiers, glare reducers, and alternate format materials on audio cassette and in large print in Braille are available for visually impaired users. Curriculum written materials have been translated into a variety of languages including Spanish, Chinese and Russian.

Access Safety City is the first site to serve older adults and New Yorkers of all ages with disabilities from across the city in addition to children from the surrounding community. The site is also offers training to parents of impaired children, physical and occupational therapists, special education teachers and others who work with the special needs population.

Funded with a grant from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, this program provides training classes and car seat fitting stations to parents and other caregivers of babies and toddlers as well as car seat technician certification courses for safety and health professionals.

We operate six car seat fitting stations throughout the five boroughs where families can come by appointment to have a certified car seat technician show them the correct way to install and use their car seats. Safety seats are given free of charge to low income families who cannot afford to purchase them. We also sponsor car seat checks and training workshops at shopping centers, hospitals, health clinics, and WIC centers. Car seat checks and informational materials are offered in both English and Spanish.

We have 10 certified car seat technicians who operate car seat checks and training workshops for child caregivers. We have also provided certification training to 68 injury prevention professionals at hospitals and other agencies. Technicians attend a 4 day training course to be certified by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

Wearing a properly fitted bicycle helmet reduces the risk of serious head injuries by 80%. TSNYC, Inc. sponsors education programs on the importance of wearing helmets and other protective gear while biking, skating, skateboarding, and driving scooters.

Children, teens and adults can come and get their bike helmets correctly fitted at our 7 helmet fitting stations located throughout the five boroughs. Helmets purchased with a donation from Bike New York are available free of charge for low income families.

Throughout the year, we hold Safety on Wheels events at parks, schools, and health and community fairs to spread the word about the importance of wearing helmets. During Bike Safety Month in May we co-sponsor bike safety special events with Bike New York in Central Park and Prospect Park offering bicycle check-ups, helmet fittings and safety contests to the public.

TSNYC, Inc. provides funding for community programs that actively involve teenagers, older adults and other high risk populations in spreading awareness of traffic safety issues among their peers.

Youth Educating for Safety (YES) conferences, speakers programs and materials support the grass roots efforts of teenagers and children who have developed their own strategies to promote traffic safety in their schools and communities. YES and YES for Kids magazines written by and for students are distributed to 100,000 students annually citywide.

Seniors Out for Safety (SOS) theater programs, the SOS newsletter and the award-winning ALERT bingo game provide interactive means for older adults to address traffic safety issues relevant to them.

Traffic Safety Calendar Contests, co-sponsored by the New York City Department of Transportation and Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, award prizes to New Yorkers of all ages who have created original art work and slogans for our yearly calendar, posters, t-shirts, buttons and other safety items.