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Union County Coordinated School Health

BOOSTER SEAT SAFETY PROGRAM HELD AT UNION COUNTY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Campaign features Ollie the Otter safety mascot

Union Co.— On Oct. 29&30, students at the Elementary schools received a visit from a very special guest. Ollie Otter, Tennessee’s booster seat and seatbelt safety mascot, visited the schools to promote the use of booster seats, encourage students to wear their seatbelts and to raise awareness of roadway construction site safety. Ollie’s message to the students was “You ‘OTTER’ buckle up!”

Ollie was joined by several volunteers working to increase booster seat and seatbelt usage among Tennessee’s elementary school children.

 “This is a great program, we need our students to know that booster seats and seatbelts will keep them safe, and they will tell their parents. When the students are measured against the measuring poster, they see that most of them need to be using a booster seat. Ollie is a great way to encourage kids to think about their own safety,” said Eddie Graham, Union County School Health Coordinator.

Additional volunteers at the schools included Judith Walker, Tom Toney, Lynn Stewart with Knoxville Technology Center; and Lt. Jesse Brooks, Safety Education Officer with Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The program is sponsored by the Tennessee Transportation Development Foundation (TTDF) – a non-profit group established by the Tennessee Road Builders Association – and the TRBA Ladies Auxiliary. The statewide safety education program will make presentations in all 95 counties in Tennessee this year.

The Ollie Otter program communicates that Tennessee state law requires the use of a booster seat until a child is 4-feet-9 inches tall or 9 years old. An orange and white construction site barrel, representing Ollie’s home, is on display to teach the children the importance of roadway safety near construction work zones. The fully-costumed Ollie Otter character encourages children to wear their seatbelts and educates them about Tennessee’s booster seat law.

“Our goal is to try to educate children through the Ollie Otter program about Tennessee’s child restraint law,” said Carol Coleman, chairperson of the TTDF.

“Hopefully, children will encourage their caregivers, or whoever is driving them around, to make better safety decisions.”