With funding from the FIA Foundation, three animated Sesame Street public service announcements (PSAs) were created and will debut in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East today. The PSAs feature Grover in different scenarios shown buckling up or putting on a helmet, and then giving a thumbs up—the universally used symbol by pilots, astronauts, race-car drivers and other highly-skilled professionals to denote readiness, preparedness, and “all-systems go.” Grover will be wearing the official international road safety symbol—a yellow Road Safety tag to show his support to the road safety cause.
In addition to the PSAs, Sesame Workshop and the Global Road Safety Partnership are jointly developing a Road Safety Education Framework intended as a practical guide for Road Safety educators, parents and practitioners who are developing content, educational materials and communication strategies to help children better understand the risks associated with travel on or near the roads.
My own brother's life was forever changed after being struck by a car at age 12, and I couldn't be more thrilled to hear that a organization like Sesame Street is taking on this near and dear cause. While I'm personally a stickler for road safety with my kids; I often question how diligent others may be as I observe kids without helmets darting across the road without even looking.
The objectives of the Sesame Street Road Safety Campaign are to help children understand that vehicles are complex and technical things that need skill, caution and preparation to ride in them and be around them; to build in children an “I can” attitude toward this positive mind-set and behavior; to empower children to take action in communicating this positive and proactive attitude to their family and friends; and to make the safe use of cars and roads a priority and a shared family experience.
The objectives of the Sesame Street Road Safety Campaign are to help children understand that vehicles are complex and technical things that need skill, caution and preparation to ride in them and be around them; to build in children an “I can” attitude toward this positive mind-set and behavior; to empower children to take action in communicating this positive and proactive attitude to their family and friends; and to make the safe use of cars and roads a priority and a shared family experience.
“Using the unique lens of Sesame Workshop’s 40-plus years of research-based experience and our partners’ expertise of best practices in road safety education, we hope to make critical changes in how people interact with the road,” said Gary E. Knell, Sesame Workshop President and CEO. “Today kicks off an important coordinated effort among global organizations to mobilize and reach families to promote safety awareness among all road users.”