SafeKids Worldwide has launched a “Moment of Silence” campaign against distracted walking urging students and parents to take the pledge “devices down, heads up.”
The campaign honors Christina Morris-Ward a 15-year-old Seneca Valley High School student who was struck by a car and killed on Halloween 2012 while, according to her mother, Gwen Ward, dressed in dark clothes, wearing headphones and looking down at her phone as she started to cross the street.
Ward’s story is featured on the SafeKids Worldwide website that also remembers the thousands of teens who are hit by cars each year. According to the website, teens account for 50 percent of all pedestrian deaths among kids ages 19 and under.
SafeKids is a program of Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. The Department of Transportation is developing an education program aimed at high school students that will be launched later this year to reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
For more information about the County’s pedestrian safety program, visit the County’s website.
