The City of Springfield’s SGF Yields pedestrian safety program installed the first of five “Student Walker” statues Aug. 15 at Pittman Elementary School.
The new installation includes the recognizable Mr. Walker statue along with a new child-sized silhouette. The pair is meant to encourage school children to identify with the message of pedestrian safety and highlight the important role adults play in keeping children safe.
Funded through a Blueprint for Safer Roadways grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation, the new statues will be installed at Horace Mann, Williams, Bingham, Pittman and McGregor Elementary schools in the coming weeks.
“These five elementary schools were selected based on multiple factors,” says Traffic Safety Professional Mandy Buettgen-Quinn. “Our goal was to choose an elementary school from each high school feeder system, but we also considered the type of streets near the school, proximity of the school entrance to the road and number of students walking. We also reached out to schools to gauge their interest in bringing traffic safety to their students.”
In addition to the statues, SGF Yields is working with the selected schools to provide in-classroom presentations and curriculum to help students, teachers and parents connect with the statues and learn more about how to stay safe traveling to and from school.
For more information about SGF Yields, visit springfieldmo.gov/SGFyields.