Keep Kids Alive, Drive 25 Meeting Tonight

Public safety isn't just the responsibility of the police and fire departments. It is the responsibility of residents.

Speeding in residential areas is especially dangerous for children who may be walking or playing in the neighborhood, and it represents one of the most frequent complaints police departments and city councils hear throughout the United States.

Surprisingly, most speeders in residential areas live right in the neighborhood.

Consequently, neighbors working together can do a lot to reduce speeding in their neighborhoods.

Keep Kids Alive-Drive 25 (KKAD25) is a nationwide program that focuses on ways to reduce speeding in neighborhoods and make them safer places for children to live and play.

On  Tuesday, Feb. 8, the city of  will hold a meeting at Wentzville’s Law Enforcement Center, located at 1019 Schroeder Creek Blvd., to introduce the KKAD25 program to residents.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. and will acquaint residents with how they can change the way they and others drive on their neighborhood streets, and tools available to them through the KKAD25 program.

The program involves citizen participation, road signs and a public information campaign.

Changing the way people drive on residential streets can have a significant impact on the safety and welfare of everyone.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics, the death rate per million miles driven on residential streets is almost two times the death rate on highways. More pedestrians walk along neighborhood streets, and NHTSA figures show a dramatic increase in pedestrian-fatality rates with only modest increases in motorist speeds.

If a pedestrian is hit by a car traveling only 20 miles per hour, there is a 5-percent fatality rate. At 30 miles per hour the pedestrian-fatality rate jumps to 45 percent, and at 40 miles per hour, the fatality rate zooms to 85 percent.

Information from KKAD25, AAA and NHTSA provides some stark facts on speeding in pedestrian areas. 

• 37,261 people died on roadways in America in 2008.
• Speeding in residential neighborhoods represents the single greatest complaint issue to police departments and city council representatives throughout the United States.
• Most speeders on your street live in right in the neighborhood. 
• Based on the “General Estimates System” database of police-reported accidents, incapacitating pedestrian injuries rose from 18.2 percent in 25 mile-per-hour zones to 23.4 percent in 30 mile-per-hour zones. Pedestrian fatalities spiked respectively from 1.8 percent to 5.4 percent. This fatality rate represents a 3-fold increase just for that 5-mph increase. 
• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children of every age from 2-14 years of age.
• Speeding Triples the Odds of Crashing.
• It is not unusual for speeders to be clocked in excess of 40 mph in 25-mph zones.
• Speeding extends the distance necessary to stop a vehicle.

For more information about the meeting or the KKAD25 program, call Chief of Police Robert Noonan’s office at (636) 639-2100.

Check Wentzville Patch tomorrow for updates from the meeting.