SHORELINE – Dave Townsend is focusing his grief from his daughter’s death into making sure local children can safely cross the street.
This month, he is distributing 20 LED lighted vests to Shoreline elementary schools, to be used by adult crossing guards.
“Due to the morning darkness, this will give them lighting,” Townsend said.
It has been nearly one-and-a-half years since Tia Townsend, 11, died after being struck by a car in a crosswalk at 170th and 15th Avenue NE. She and a friend were on their way to Ridgecrest Elementary School and decided to take a detour to get a snack at 7-Eleven. Both were struck in a marked crosswalk by an 82-year-old man.
Following his daughter’s death, Townsend established the Traffic Intersection Awareness Foundation (TIA). Through the organization, Townsend works to improve safety for pedestrians.
Townsend and a friend of his, who works for an electronics company, recently came up with the idea of a lighted vest while brainstorming ways to make crosswalks safer. The vests they designed are still the traditional orange color, but have battery-operated blinking lights to better warn early morning drivers to stop at crosswalks.
“They look like normal vests, except they have two lighted strips that go down the front and back,” Townsend said.
Townsend received the vests two weeks ago, and will be giving four vests each to five schools in Shoreline. He is currently trying to acquire more vests, worth $35 apiece, to give to a private school in Shoreline as well.
Townsend hopes the donation of the vests will encourage school officials to use him as a resource for making walking to and from school safer.
“I am hoping it will give them an avenue to reach out to me for different programs to use,” Townsend said.
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