The Rotary Club of Chestermere, Canadian Association of Criminology and Legal Studies, and the Chestermere Police Communications Link are working together to address safety concerns of reckless driving on local streets, with the “Drive like your kids live here” sign initiative.
“The rationale behind it is that law enforcement can’t be everywhere, if you want to change people’s behaviour you do it through messaging,” Ritesh Narayan said.
“I came up with the idea of lawn signs stating, “Drive Like Your Kid’s Live Here.” As a parent, a message resonates strongly with me and I felt it would resonate with others as well,” he said.
In exchange for a lawn sign, Chestermere residents were asked to bring a donation for the Chestermere Food Bank or bring their empty bottles for the Community Therapy Dogs Society.
“At the end of the day, we collected 183.5 Ibs of food for the foodbank and enhanced road safety in Chestermere,” Narayan said.
“We have different organizations coming together for a common good. It’s maximizing the potential for the social change of safety, and it’s synergizing, it’s a really good example of organizations collaborating,” Narayan said.
“All three organizations embraced the idea, and this saw three volunteer groups come together for a single and important cause,” he said.
During the summer months when children are outside playing, Narayan see’s residents posts on social media about reckless driving behaviour in Chestermere, and he receives a couple of messages every week from residents with road safety concerns.
“I quickly realized that law enforcement cannot be everywhere all the time. I am a strong believer in messaging to modify people’s behavior,” Narayan said.
“Crime prevention is not solely the business of law enforcement; crime prevention is the responsibility of the entire community, and the community is coming together to make sure our streets are safe,” he said.
