Walking Safety Tips

You greatly reduce the chances of getting injured as a pedestrian if you follow these simple safety tips:

• Supervise young children and do not leave them alone to play, especially near a street or the driveway.
  
• Make sure that the children's play area is at least 200 feet from any dangerous area (such as a street, driveway, a vacant lot, or water). If it is within 200 feet, the play area should be fenced.
  
• Obey the school safety patrol, crossing guard, or police officer when walking near a school.
  
• Teach children to cross streets at a corner, use crosswalks (whenever possible), and obey the traffic signals. Teach them to check for approaching vehicles before crossing even with the green light or "walk" sign on.
  
• Make sure children under age 10 are supervised when crossing the street. You may also need to supervise older children, especially when they cross streets with heavy traffic or more than two lanes.
  
• Teach children to look left-right-left again before crossing a street and to keep looking as they cross. Practice this behavior with them until they master it.
  
• Teach children to walk facing on-coming traffic if no sidewalks are available.
  
• Wear light-colored clothing if walking at dawn, at dusk, or after dark. Even better, wear reflective tape (placed diagonally across the back) and carry a flashlight.
  
• Make sure that doors leading to the outside of the house, including garage doors, cannot be opened by young children. This is to prevent children from getting out of the house unnoticed by their parents and being injured in traffic.
  
• Do not drink alcohol and walk near traffic.
  
• As a driver, take extra care to look out for children who might enter the road unexpectedly.
  

Source: http://safeusa.org/walk/walking.htm