Signs will be installed at popular holiday spots around the Bay this summer to urge drivers to take care around children.
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The Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation has partnered with Port Stephens Council on the campaign as it is rolled out around the state.
Signs like ‘Slow Down Kids Around’ will be aimed at drivers while others including ‘Hold My Hand’ will serve as a reminder to parents at busy beaches and around holiday parks.
Little Blue Dinosaur founder and CEO Michelle McLaughlin lost her four-year-old boy on the Central Coast in 2014.
She said the the two holiday destinations had similarities.
“Shoal Bay and Nelson Bay are such lovely family holiday areas,” Mrs McLaughlin said.
“As they are busy places, with roads, shops, parks and beaches all close together, they are exactly the kinds of places our message is most needed.
“We now have 29 councils working with us in four states of Australia to spread our child pedestrian safety messages, including Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, and now Port Stephens.”
Mrs McLaughlin and her husband David formed the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation as a legacy to Tom who died when he was hit by a car on a family holiday.
“We lost Tom in the blink of an eye,” Mrs McLaughlin said.
“We don’t want this to happen to anyone else.
“Experts have told us that, because children are small, and their brains aren’t fully developed, they can’t make safe choices around traffic. We must hold their hands right up until age 10, and supervise them closely until they are 12.”
Mrs McLaughlin said a pedestrian struck by a car travelling at 50kmh was twice as likely to die than if they were struck at 40kmh, and the chances of survival improved the slower the vehicle was travelling.
“That’s why the messages ‘Slow Down Kids Around’ and ‘Hold My Hand’ are so important.”
In Australia in 2016, 1,295 lives were lost because of road trauma, at a cost of $27 billion.
“Since we lost Tom, 70 more children have died when they were hit by cars, and thousands of others have been hospitalised,” Mrs McLaughlin said. “The cost – emotional and financial – is just too high.”
The campaign was launched at Shoal Bay on Tuesday.