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ACK TO SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER? WordPerfect for DOS WINDOWS Call 338â€"6600 ACaDemy OrF LearnanG Oukville‘s Business School Catherine Tough of Glen Abbey, one of several parents keen on having the KIDestrians program made availâ€" able, shows Grant Kozlik, 4, and James Kostantos, 8, how to cross the street safely from between parked cars. First they stopped at the curb, looked both ways to make sure neither car was about to move, and than stopped again at the edge of the parked cars, again looking both ways before crossing. _ (Photo by Riziero Vertolli) Teaching kids safe crossing from between parked cars Purolator‘s Retail Stores Work To Your Schedule VEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 14, 1994 PAGE 13 Oakville Town Centre II *P.O. Box rentals available at this store By WILMA BLOKHUIS Focus Editor ow often have you been told, during your elementary school days, to never cross the street from between parked cars. And, how often have you seen adults cross from between parked cars. . . In the child‘s view, it was OK for adults to cross from between parked cars, because they were more careful, more responsible. At the same time, children were warned about the dangers of crossing from between parked cars, and told to walk to the corner before crossing the street. Nevertheless, kids did it, and will continâ€" ue to cross the street from between parked cars. "So, why not teach them how to do it safely," says Wendy Moore Spors of KIDestrians, a new program coming to Halton aimed at teaching traffic safety to children. One of the lessons deals with teaching children how to cross the street from between parked cars, but stopping first at the curb, and then again on an imaginary line on the edge of the parked cars, before crossing. At both stops, children are taught the importance of looking left and right, first to see if one of the parked cars is about to move, and second to watch for traffic on the street. "This is an exercise that we‘ve been told we shouldn‘t teach our children," says Moore Spors, who was involved with developing the KIDestrians program in Hamilton. "But, children are doing it even after 30 years of telling not to. Telling them not to cross the street from between parked cars isn‘t working," said Moore Spors, eluding to statistics showing children crossing from between parked cars run the highest risk of North Service Road Q.E.W Store Hours: 8am â€" 8pm Weekdays Sam â€" 4pm Saturdays * Or your money back. Some limitations and conditions apply. Ask your Purolator retail service agent for details * See in store for full contest details. being hit. "We know from a lot of things we teach our kids (that if you) tell them not to do something, they‘re going to do it for sure. A lot of children are being hit running from between parked cars, and my guess is they‘re doing it because they don‘t want to get caught. They know they shouldn‘t be doing this, so they‘re racing from between the cars. Nobody can see them, that‘s why they‘re being hit." By teaching children about the dangers of crossing from between parked cars, and what precautions they should be taking, ""we‘re emphasizing this is a dangerous place (way) to cross," said Moore Spors "You have to admit that a lot of us as parâ€" ents walk right out from between parked cars, without even thinking. Our children are following us. They‘re watching what we‘re doing." Moore Spors, a concerned parent, and Sgt. Stewart Jones of the Hamiltonâ€" Wentworth Regional Police, spoke at an oriâ€" entation session held last spring to introduce the KIDestrians program to Halton this fall. The two members of Hamilton‘s ‘KIDestrians Team‘ came armed with statisâ€" tics on the number of children struck by cars. We had a look at one year‘s statistics and that kind of alarmed us," said Jones. "And, we looked at two years and that alarmed us even more. "In the two years we looked at we were averaging in Hamiltonâ€"Wentworth, five chilâ€" dren a week being struck by vehicles. That was the average per week for both of those years." A further breakdown of those statisâ€" tics showed an average of three pedestrians and two cyclists were struck each week, added Jones. "We then did a fiveâ€"year study, and it still (See ‘Most accidents . . .‘ page 17) "O0 PM B L U E C H 1P T H 1N K 1N G"" T"BLUE CHIP THINKING is a tradeâ€" mark of Midand mc‘apnd Inc. * Rates as o! subject to change and