A Safe Place to Learn and Be Safe

Safety City is a special place where second-grade students learn about traffic safety, fire safety and injury prevention during a daylong field trip to Bates Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky.

Staff from Norton Children’s Prevention & Wellness, supported by the Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation, spend part of the day teaching children how to safely cross the street, wear bicycle helmets and use the “ABCs of bike safety.” Students also learn about riding safely in cars through appropriate seat belt and booster seat use. They learn about fire safety, including smoke detectors, “crawl low and go” and “stop, drop and roll.”

The second part of the day is hands-on. Children use what they learned in the classroom as they drive around a miniature town called Safety City. The children operate battery-powered mini-cars through streets that house a hospital, courthouse, library, fire station, city hall and other buildings. They learn how to navigate a railroad crossing, school bus, traffic lights, stop signs and more.

The Safety City curriculum was developed in collaboration with the Jefferson County Public Schools Curriculum Design and Learning Innovation, Norton Children’s Prevention & Wellness and the Louisville Metro Police Department.

​Safety City lessons include:

•  Pedestrian safety: Stop, look left, look right, look left again and listen; and where to safely cross the street
• Railroad safety
• Bus safety
• Seat belt and booster seat use
• Bicycle safety
• How to call 911
• Stranger awareness
• Fire safety
• Knowing personal information: address and phone numbers

Safety City is located behind Bates Elementary
7601 Bardstown Road
Louisville, KY 40291
(502) 629-7358

Safety City is made possible through generous community support. Your donation can help ensure children from across the region have the unique chance to visit Safety City and learn about traffic safety.

Register now