Pedestrian safety stressed for local students in Desert Hot Springs
A few elementary school kids got a lesson in pedestrian safety Tuesday morning in a push to reduce collisions on local streets.
These active learners are being tested with the red light, green light game. It’s one of a few activities third graders from Cabot Yerxa Elementary School are engaged in as they learn to be safe pedestrians. Some share their knowledge.
“When you cross the street, you have to look left right, left right,” Caiden Stone, a third grader, said.
The lessons are being taught by a group of Desert Hot Springs High School students who are part of the public safety academy. Abigail Irene, a sophomore says she finds it necessary.
“I didn’t know until I took this training to properly cross the street and everybody knows left, right, but no one knows if cars are coming, look behind you,” she said. “That’s perfect because we want to enforce this type of stuff to the community and it’s better to start young than to start elder.”
According to program organizers, there were 18 pedestrian deaths last year across the Coachella Valley with a number of them in Desert Hot Springs. Staff at Desert Regional Medical Center say they worked with the city to create awareness.
“How can we approach the residents of Desert Hot Springs to get our message across and what we were told was, the best way to get to parents was through the children,” Gael Whetstone, a nurse at Desert Regional Medical Center, said.
Irene says teaching the third graders is a duty she upholds.
“So just to be able to now teach students how to properly cross the road, is enough for me to say I did my job,” she said.
A job that can potentially save lives.
The pedestrian safety program has been introduced at other elementary schools in Desert Hot Springs and there are plans for two more sessions this fall.