Students Sign #Hero4Zero Pledge in Drive to Eliminate Traffic Deaths

by NCDOT 08/22/2018

Safe Driver Task Force to Meet Thursday in Robeson County

PEMBROKE – What’s a #Hero4Zero?

Some students at UNC-Pembroke have adorned their car bumpers and laptops with #Hero4Zero stickers to declare their support for an effort to wipe out traffic fatalities in Robeson County, North Carolina’s deadliest county.

Responding to a Vision Zero social media campaign devised by members of a UNC-P mass communications class, more than 100 students earned #Hero4Zero stickers last week when they signed pledges to:

•    Always wear a seat belt, and make sure everyone in the car is buckled up.
•    Obey the speed limit.
•    Only drive sober and alert.
•    Keep their eyes on the road, their hands on the wheel and their minds on driving.

These safety rules illuminate dangerous driver behaviors that contribute to an average 43 traffic deaths each year in Robeson County. Robeson County has just 1 percent of North Carolina’s population but 3 percent of its traffic fatalities, more on a per-capita basis than any other county.

Getting people to use their seat belts is Robeson’s biggest driver safety challenge, according to crash statistics compiled by the N.C. Department of Transportation. More than 42 percent of the county’s fatal crashes involve victims who didn’t buckle up, compared to a statewide average of 30 percent.

“This is a core issue for us in Robeson County,” said Grady Hunt, a Pembroke attorney who represents Robeson and four neighboring counties on the N.C. Board of Transportation. “If everyone used their seat belts and child car seats every time, we would save so many lives.”

Hunt convened the Robeson County Vision Zero Task Force earlier this year to tackle deadly driver behaviors. Church pastors and other members of Robeson’s faith-based community will be guests at a task force meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Robeson County Emergency Operations Center, 38 Legend Road, Lumberton. The N.C. Department of Transportation is working with the task force and local law enforcement to eliminate traffic deaths in Robeson County.

The public is invited to Thursday’s meeting. More information about Robeson County’s Vision Zero campaign, including an online pledge, is available at ncvisionzero.org/Robeson.

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