Dave Townsend is dedicating all of his time to a campaign that hopes to educate, inform and draw more support for creating safe routes for children walking to school.
Townsend, an Edmonds resident, and the Traffic Intersection Awareness Foundation have created a public-service announcement that began airing on KOMO-TV and FOX Sports Net Northwest last month.
The TIA Foundation was formed in honor of Townsend’s daughter 11-year-old Tia, who was struck by a car in an intersection in Shoreline and died in March 2002.
Townsend said the announcement will run more than 600 times, with the bulk airing during June, July and August.
“Through these commercials, I’m reaching millions,” Townsend said.
Statistics show he could be reaching between 2 million and 3 million people a day, he said, particularly because Fox Sports Net Northwest airs in Washington, Oregon and parts of Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
Townsend said approximately 5,000 people die each year as pedestrians in the United States, and the announcement uses the death toll from the September 11 World Trade Center attacks – more than 2,700, according to CNN – as a comparison.
“My heart goes out to every person that was affected by that, but there needed to be perspective,” Townsend said.
The announcement draws attention to making streets safer and increasing awareness for drivers, he said.
He said he hopes it will affect many people.
Townsend said he thinks more funding from the recently passed federal transportation bill needs to go toward pedestrian safety. The foundation’s goal through this campaign is to show people the need for more funding for traffic safety, particularly near schools.
The announcement is the first step in the TIA Foundation’s Safe Routes to Schools Campaign. Townsend said they are also customizing a 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser, which he hopes to take to different events to publicize the campaign and increase awareness.
A DVD and fund-raiser are also in the works to steer the campaign, he said.
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