Children in Kissimmee take oath for safe driving

Kissimmee Police Department honored

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Kissimmee Police Department was honored by the city's Parks and Recreation Department during Tuesday night's City Commission meeting.

Officials handed a group of officers a banner filled with handprints, of children who had pledged their commitment to traffic safety.

The "I Promise" banner was created by the Police Department about a month ago, but after attending a community event, only a few children participated.

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The Parks and Recreation Department decided to get children from an after-school program involved.

"Driving down the road is not the best time to start looking at Facebook. So, we want to try to encourage the kids to encourage their parents to be safe drivers," said Jaime Paul, with Kissimmee's Parks and Recreation Department. "Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for being. They do mimic what they see adults do, so right now if (we) get them to understand that it is not smart for me to look at my phone, (I should) put my phone in my purse or my bag or on the seat when I'm driving, (then that's the goal)."

Kissimmee police Sgt. Wilson Munoz said the children even raised their right hand during the oath for safe driving, to make sure they understood the long-term commitment they were making.

"If the child is observing their parent texting while driving, we want the kid to be able to recognize these signs and be able to notify the parent, because someday, they will also be driving," Munoz said.

Kissimmee police plan to hang the safe driving banner in the lobby of police headquarters.


About the Author:

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.

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