A little over a year ago we made the move to our ‘forever’ home. John loved it because it was right across from the school, which meant our ‘backyard’ was now HUGE for the boys to run around in and play. I liked it because of its proximity to the school (Kyle can basically zip line from his bedroom to his classroom). While both of those things are wonderful and have reduced so much stress (i.e. getting the boys ready and off to school in the morning), there are some new stresses that we have to deal with. Mainly, the road between our house and the school. While it’s a one-way street, and there is a big stop sign with a flashing red light a few houses from us, cars still seem to zip right by after they pass the stop sign. Sometimes, they don’t stop at all! I would say that overall driving in our community is safe, but it is not perfect, and there is definitely lots of potential improvements that can be made. While some of road safety education starts at home, such as speaking to your kids about being vigilant when they cross the road, we also strongly believe that road safety can be achieved if we act collectively as a community.
One thing our community implemented last year was having everyone in the neighborhood, especially those who live on streets around to the school, put up bright blue “slow down” sign on their lawn. The signs act as a reminder to drivers that there are kids at play, and that they should slow down and keep an eye out for them. Another thing we are hoping to implement is putting a speed bump just past the school cross walk to keep cars from speeding up after a stop sign. I also think it would be helpful to get crossing guards assigned to two key areas where roads intersect, and a lot of the kids come from, to get to school. These are just of the few things we implemented and the ideas we came up with as a community, through the school’s parent council. After all, making safe driving a priority in our community is important not only for the kids, but for everyone that lives there.
Allstate Canada also believes in the importance of making safe driving a priority in our collective communities. Based on their recently released 10th Annual Safe Driving Study, they found that Ontario is home to both the community with the lowest 10-year average collision frequency rate (Hanmer), as well as the one with the highest (North York). Interestingly, the report also noted that Sundays and Christmas Day are the safest days to drive, with the least collisions reported. You can check out the full report, along with more interesting facts and findings, HERE.
Allstate is committed to safe driving and is taking action to make communities safer! That is why they want you to submit a safety improvement idea for your community. You can win 1 of 3 $1,000 gas cards just for entering, and there is also a chance that your submission will be picked to be implemented. Find out more and submit your ideas HERE!
I love this initiative and I’m excited to have teamed up with Allstate Canada to share my ideas. I hope you do too!
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Allstate Canada. In exchange for this post, I received perks in the form of compensation. All opinions on this blog are my own.