Contact Tammy Gay
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All public Fayette County high school
students from Henry Clay, Lafayette, Bryan Station, Dunbar, and Tates Creek will compete
for prizes by just buckling their seat belts.
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LEXINGTON, KY (Sept. 7, 1999) -- One click will
equal one point during this fall's high school competition among all public Lexington high
schools. The Fayette County SAFE KIDS Coalition, led by the University of Kentucky
Children's Hospital, is urging local high school students to buckle up by holding a seat
belt competition, "Battle of the Belts."
All public Fayette County high school students from Henry Clay, Lafayette, Bryan
Station, Dunbar, and Tates Creek will compete for prizes by just buckling their seat
belts.
"High school students are among the lowest users of seat belts," said Therese
Moseley, SAFE KIDS nurse volunteer. "Our coalition hopes by hosting this competition
for the second year in a row that we can convince students that wearing seat belts does
save lives."
On two different days, volunteers of the Safe Kids Coalition secretly will count in the
schools' parking lots how many students in 150 cars are wearing seat belts. Volunteers
will also be providing educational opportunities.
"SAFE KIDS volunteers will be doing classroom presentations, conducting trivia
contests, and playing games to educate the students about the importance of seat belt
use," Moseley said.
In 1997, Kentucky statistics showed only 47 percent of drivers under the age of 19 use
seat belts. Last year, Tates Creek High School won the competition with the highest usage.
Bryan Station High School won for most improved scores.
The second survey conducted by coalition volunteers showed that the average use of seat
belts among all drivers was 65 percent, an increase of 8 percent from the first survey.
The average use of seat belts by all passengers was 47 percent, an increase of 10 percent
from the first survey. |
