Toyota Provides Support To Safety City Program

Mar 11, 2016

Well before their 16th birthday, kids are learning driving habits through years of passengering with their parents and other adults in their lives that they frequently drive with. As we know, many of us do not always use the best driving habits when we do not think we are being critiqued. Most parents of course want their children to be as safe as possible and follow all the rules of the road once they get behind the wheel, but if years of watching bad habits have been instilled in them then it can be hard to break. This is why it is important to make sure that children are learning the proper safe driving techniques from an early age which is why Toyota has been supporting Safety City in Kentucky since it first opened up back in 1990.

At Safety City, kids in second and third grade can attend a free safety education program that combines student driving experiences with classroom learning to help provide them with real-world scenarios and instruction. The classroom topics covered through the program include Seatbelt Use, Traffic, and Pedestrian Safety.

The program was originally started as a partnership between the Lexington Police Department and Eastern Kentucky University and today it serves around 2,000 students per year. Toyota recently made a $49,000 donation to help Safety City purchase ten kid-size electric cars which will be replacing the fleet of vehicles that have been in use since the program first started.

For Toyota, supporting Safety City is second nature. “We believe everyone deserves to be safe, and we want to be a part of helping keep people safe, on and off the road,” said Wil James, president of Toyota’s Kentucky plant. “That’s a priority for us, and it’s why we’re investing in programs like Safety City.”

“Toyota Puts the Vroom in Safety Education Program Aimed at Putting Kids in the Driver’s Seat | Corporate.” Toyota USA Newsroom. N.p., 8 Mar. 2016. Web. 09 Mar. 2016. <http://pressroom.toyota.com/releases/toyota+safety+city+tmmk+march8.htm>.