TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SLATER TELLS BALTIMORE STUDENTS ABOUT SAFETY

Topics:  Rodney E. Slater

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
April 2, 1997

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 2, 1997
NHTSA 19-97
Contact:  Tim Hurd
Tel. No. (202) 366-9550

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater today led 20 pre-school and kindergarten students from a Baltimore school through a question-and-answer session on the benefit of transportation safety.

"Children can learn for themselves that crashes are preventable. Each year thousands of children are seriously injured and killed in transportation accidents, said Secretary Slater. "President Clinton's highest transportation priority is safety. We can no longer accept that a youngster growing up in the United States is more likely to be killed or injured in a transportation crash than from any other cause."

Transportation-related crashes are the leading cause of death for every age from 6 through 28 years old, according to department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

"Good safety habits begin early in a child's life. Children who learn safe behavior become adults who practice safety and pass good habits on to their own children," Secretary Slater said.

Secretary Slater was joined by Senator Paul Sarbanes, Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary David Winstead, the Administrator of the Maryland Mass Transit Administration (MTA) Ron Freeland and Corporal Donald Brown, a MTA Officer who presented a safety demonstration for the students.

The event was held at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.