National Safe Communities Day acknowledged by county students

The importance of safety was brought to life for Wellington Catholic District School Board students at a Safe Communities Day event here last week.

On Oct. 1 Grade 5 and 6 students from Saint Mary Catholic School in Mount Forest, St. John Catholic School in Arthur and St. Joseph Catholic School in Fergus attended the first ever Safe Communities Wellington County event at the Royal Distributing Athletic Performance Centre in Marden.

Held on the National Safe Communities Day, the goal of the event was to bring to students’ attention the importance of safe practices in everyday life.

“It was a great opportunity for us to kind of get the word out there to the students, to the families, to the communities about Safe Communities and what we’re doing,” said Safe Communities Wellington County (SCWC) program coordinator Christine Veit.

Wellington County became a “safe community” in 2013, Veit said, and has since established three priority focus areas: falls, motor vehicle on and off road accidents, and intentional self-harm.

“A safe community is one that promotes safe and healthy behaviours and protects people from hurt and harm,” states the SCWC website.

The SCWC committee consists of representatives from local municipal councils, emergency services, public health, hospitals, school boards and other stakeholders with an interest in making Wellington County a safe place to live.

Though the majority of the 22 stations at the Marden event addressed SCWC’s priorities, there were other factors addressed as well, including fire safety, where students navigated through a fire department smoke trailer, and dam safety from the Grand River Conservation Authority.

Though the Oct. 1 event was the first of its kind in Wellington County, the Safe Communities team did have a Teen Driver Safety Week in high schools last year, Veit said.

“The (OPP) officers in the schools were kind of spearheading it and telling the kids about driver safety and how distracted driving is actually the number one killer now in teens, over drinking and driving,” Veit said.

She explained it takes about five seconds to send a text, and if the car is traveling at 100 kilometres an hour the car can move the distance of a football field without the driver’s eyes on the road.

“We’re trying to get into the high schools and make sure that before they even get their driver’s licenses they need to know the grim reality of it,” Veit said.

“They can die or they can kill someone.”

Safe Communities Wellington County launched the #RedThumbReminder campaign this month, asking  students and others to paint their thumbnails red as a reminder to not text and drive.

For the Grade 5 and 6 students Veit said she hopes they think about safety after last week’s event.

“Thinking about the safety of themselves, their school and their community,” she said.

“I really just want the kids to learn to be responsible for their actions and realize that you can prevent a lot of the injuries that happen to you.”

For more information about Safe Communities Wellington County, visit http://wellington.safecommunities.parachutecanada.org.

 

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