For Immediate Release
May 19, 2008
Contact: Julie Brewer
931-372-6333
www.seatbeltvolunteer.org

Ollie Otter Triumphantly Marched to the 95th County

7-foot-tall Mascot Who Champions Seatbelt and Booster Seat Safety

Nashville - A seven-foot-tall “otter” named Ollie completed a triumphant march today. His travels across Tennessee may save the lives of dozens of children.

“Ollie Otter,” a character symbolizing a booster-seat awareness program launched by the Tennessee Road Builders Association (TRBA) and supported by the Governor’s Highway Safety Office (GHSO), celebrated an appearance in his 95th Tennessee county today at a presentation to more than 400 K-4th grade children at the Dan Mills Elementary School in Nashville.

“Today marked an outstanding accomplishment for a program that epitomizes the best of an innovative private-public partnership that has directly impacted more than 55,000 Tennessee students in its very first year,” said GHSO Director Kendell Poole. “Their goals were to reach at least 40 schools in 20 counties, but they were able to give programs in 149 schools encompassing 2,284 classrooms in all 95 counties,” Poole added.

“In addition to funding from TRBA members (through TRBA’s Tennessee Transportation Development Foundation) and GHSO, the program received a major marketing and implementation boost from the Business Media Center at Tennessee Tech University,” said TRBA President Rab Summers. “One of the best things TRBA did was partner early on with Tennessee Tech. Their use of the internet to rapidly involve teachers, parents, students, and volunteers was amazing to see,” Summers added.

The programs at the schools encompassed a TRBA volunteer presenting Ollie to the students and getting them involved in “measuring up” to see how many were less than 4’9” tall, thus, by law, requiring the children to use a booster seat. Roughly 75% of the students surveyed did not use booster seats, volunteer coordinators reported.

“Ollie’s character is a great way to communicate with kids and fulfill our mission to save children’s lives,” said Carol Coleman, who, as president of the TRBA Ladies Auxiliary two years ago, led the charge to start the program for seat-belt safety. “Ollie teaches the kids that using seat belts and booster seats is cool,” she said, “and their reactions to Ollie are so enthusiastic.”

The program has already won state and national awards and has been endorsed by the Tennessee Departments of Transportation, Education and Safety. The Department of Safety supports the program by having Highway Patrol officers participate in many programs and provide funds to add Ollie costumes to accelerate the program.

Volunteers are trained online by the Tennessee Board of Regents Online Education Program. The TBR’s 26 technology centers throughout the state are providing regional coordination and logistical support for the program.

“We are very pleased with the program’s progress to date,” Poole said, “but we are even more excited about its continuous contact with Tennessee’s future drivers.”