"Road Safety Challenge" is a community-driven event that encourages the participation of safety-conscious communities from across Ontario to work together to make Ontario's roads safer.
The "North Bay and Area Road Safety Challenge Committee" is a community coalition that has been active in the promotion of injury prevention and road user safety in the North Bay area for the past four years. This group consists of a number of community partners including representatives from public health, district health council, emergency services, local businesses and road safety advocates.
Road Safety Challenge includes activities that focus on local road safety priorities determined by local crash statistics. Some of the areas addressed include commercial vehicle safety, fire safety, bus safety, drinking and driving, boat safety, pedestrian safety and bicycle safety.
One of the activities of Road Safety Challenge 2001 was "Wear The Gear", a demonstration promoting the use of proper safety equipment while cycling, in-line skating, skateboarding or riding a scooter. The North Bay Police in conjunction with McDonald's restaurants distributed french fry vouchers to kids wearing the appropriate safety equipment while engaged in these activities. Statistics indicate that the promotion of safety equipment has assisted in the reduction of fatalities while riding bicycles by 10 per cent between 1995 and 1999.
Car Seat Clinics are conducted to ensure child car seats meet safety standards and are properly installed. Statistics between 1995 and 1999 indicate a reduction in fatalities between the ages of 0-4 by 65 per cent.
Seat belt compliance overall in Ontario is approximately 90 per cent. Since 1976, when seat belt legislation was first introduced, more than 6,200 lives have been saved by seat belt use.
Road Safety Challenge is an important way to promote road safety and have the citizens of Ontario become proactive in reducing the number of injuries and deaths in their communities.
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