Ollie Otter touts seatbelt safety
Otters may not automatically come to mind as a rescue animal, but the Tennessee Road Builders Association decided this playful aquatic creature would be the perfect child booster seat and seatbelt safety mascot, and Ollie Otter was born.
When you hear the comic, and catchy, play on words in the program’s motto, ‘You OTTER buckle up!’ it makes perfect sense.
The Ollie Otter program is designed to make people aware that Tennessee state law requires the use of a booster seat until a child is 4-foot-9 or 9 years old. The fully costumed Ollie Otter character encourages children to wear their seatbelts and educates them about Tennessee’s booster seat law.
West Elementary was treated to a visit from Ollie last week in part thanks to McMinnville’s Breakfast Rotary Club. According to Breakfast Rotary member Rachel Killebrew, the club has joined in the effort to increase automobile safety for children by encouraging booster seat use and seatbelt safety.
‘Breakfast Rotary has adopted this as one of its new projects,’ Killebrew said. ‘We’re calling it the Ollie Project.’
According to Killebrew, statistics show that booster seat use can save many children’s lives.
‘From the time they get out of the car seat (designed for babies and toddlers) until they can sit in a regular seat, there is a window where there’s a lot of children who die because they’re not in a booster seat,’ Killebrew said. ‘People have kind of learned their lesson about having their baby in a car seat, but they may miss that period in between, until they’re 9 years old, when they’re supposed to be in a booster seat.’
The statewide safety education program is committed to make presentations in all 95 counties in Tennessee this year.
West Elementary was the first of the team’s programs, but Breakfast Rotary is planning to eventually sponsor programs at many other local elementary schools, as well as other venues.
‘The programs feature Ollie Otter, in full costume, and a big ruler,’ Killebrew said. ‘The kids stand up beside the ruler to see if they are within the limit where they need to have a booster seat. We want to educate people about the state law that requires booster seats for children until they are 4-foot-9 or 9 years old. At these events we will also be sending information home with the children for their parents to read.
‘Our goal with this program is to save lives by educating adults, and children, about the importance of booster seats and seatbelt safety,’ Killebrew said.
For more information on this program contact a Breakfast Rotary member, or visit the Web sites at www.tntech.edu, www.collegeofbusiness.info/seatbelt/, or www.trba.org/ollie.