An Interview with Tom Everson, Founder of Keep Kids Alive Drive 25

One of the goals of Safe Omaha Streets (SOS) is to educate the citizens of Omaha about safe driving. When I recently met with Tom Everson, founder of Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 (KKAD25), he was the one who educated me. Tom and I met on a Tuesday morning at Blue Line coffee, where he arrived early wearing his green KKAD25-branded polo and laden with colorful visual aides. A former teacher, he is still an educator at heart. Tom is one of the most enthusiastically positive and collaborative people I have met in a long while. 

As we were scheduling our interview, Tom was preparing to climb Pike’s Peak to train for the Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 “Live Forward” team that runs in honor of those who died in car crashes. This sanctioned event draws premier mountain runners from all over the world. You will see through this interview that improving road safety and people’s quality of life is not just a day job for Tom, it is his entire life ethic.

How It All Began

KKAD25 started in 1998 when Tom was on a run through his kid-heavy neighborhood and the phrase “keep kids alive drive 25” popped into his head. Since that time, he’s built an ambitious non-profit that has made positive impacts on road safety in over 1,700 communities in 49 states. One of the misconceptions I had about KKAD25 was that it was strictly a local non-profit. While it is Omaha-based, it is national in scope. In the State of New Jersey alone, Tom has brought the mission of KKAD25 to over 100 communities. 

From the very beginning Tom was dedicated to using evidence-based strategies to slow down speeders. He used this same data-driven approach with the now-iconic KKAD25 signs. At this point in the interview, Tom stopped to remind me that these signs were and continue to be intended as a “friendly reminder, not an accusation.” You’ll find if you spend more than a few minutes with Tom that friendly openness is a core aspect of his personality. 

Tom credits the original idea for putting the KKAD25 logo on yard signs to Lieutenant Vacek (now retired) of the Omaha Police Department. To test the effectiveness of Lt. Vacek’s idea, Tom had a prototype sign made up for his yard and conducted a small observational study where he’d look for brake-lights on cars as they passed his yard. He even conducted these observations from the window of his living room so his presence wouldn’t influence the behavior of drivers. Over a 20 month period, 75% of the cars he observed applied their brakes when passing the KKAD25 sign. Being that an earlier traffic study showed the average rate of speed in his neighborhood was 31 mph in a 25 mph zone, he believed the signs made a difference and decided to implement this idea on a larger scale.

At this point, if you aren’t well versed in traffic studies, you may be asking yourself, “whats the big deal if someone goes a few miles over 25 mph in a neighborhood?” Tom reiterated what I have heard countless times from my partner Jim, the “death rate for a car hitting you at 30 mph is 3 times higher than if the car was only going 25 mph." And like Tom said “I don’t want to get hit by a car going at any speed!” 

Relationships

Every KKAD25 project is driven by the tenets of “positivity” and “relationships.” Tom was emphatic when he said “I follow the positive energy and don’t waste my time on negativity.” Basically he won’t try and change minds but will provide all the tools, help, resources, and facilitation to the people who DO want to slow down speeding drivers and make streets safer for kids. 

Tom also explained that at its core, KKAD25 is about “relationships.” The guiding question behind what he does is “who do you love and who loves you?” From the standpoint of pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, the answers to these two questions are all the reminders people need to keep themselves and others safe.

“It’s all relational,” said Tom as he continued to cleverly remind me that “it’s hard to put a face on infrastructure, so you have to put a face on how you behave and operate in that infrastructure.” 

Education & Behavior Change

Tom constantly emphasized that education is integral to any behavior change, and behavior change is often needed to keep kids safe. Ever a student of human behavior, Tom also conceded that “acquiring a new skill takes patience and practice.” He offered this personal anecdote to illustrate:

Tom was sitting in the passenger seat as his son drove to football practice. After Tom witnessed his son slowly roll through a stop sign without really looking or coming to a complete stop, Tom asked why his son behaved this way. His son replied, “no one was even there.” Tom then gifted his son with a sports analogy, “you go to practice and run drills over and over again so that you are prepared for the big game. The same is true with stop signs; you practice stopping correctly day after day so that you are prepared to stop when you NEED to stop, like when a kid darts out in front of you or a driver stops short.” 

This sports analogy was a powerful educational anecdote for me, especially being that I am a driver who has only been coming to a complete stop for the last 5 or so years.

Community Outreach

I asked Tom “how do you take that stop sign anecdote and extrapolate it to the community?” His answer to my question would be a recurring theme throughout the interview; “community.” 

“The key to everything lies in two things: it’s the people in the communities who know what the issues are, and the solutions are within them but they just need the creativity and space for the solutions to come to the fore.”

It’s just this space that KKAD25 helps provide through network connections and facilitation. 

Tom believes that projects that are built from the ground up, by the people actually living in the communities, are the best projects because they make streets safer while also building community ownership.

Highland Park, MI

One such example of this occurred in Highland Park, Michigan where the community took an arts-based approach to KKAD25 by inviting local artists to redesign the yard signs and personalize them to their community. (An example of one of these signs is the cover photo for this post) In addition to this, Highland Park also engaged local artists to design and paint a street mural as a traffic-calming strategy at an intersection with a high collision rate. Tom referenced a recent study that showed that street art can reduce crashes between motorists and other road users by 50%! The street mural was just recently finished so Tom will have to wait for the evaluation phase of the project, but he ended his story by saying “Street art is reclaiming space in a creative way” (1)

After I applauded Tom for his impact in Highland Park, he characteristically  and humbly removed himself as the focus and said “I let others create, I just facilitate.” 

Oro Valley, Arizona

Another effective safety campaign that was built from the community up was the origination and distribution of KKAD25 trash decals. It is illegal to place any signage - including KKAD25 signs - within the public right of way, so Tom was intrigued in 1999 when he received a call from a retired traffic engineer in Southern California who suggested Tom make KKAD25 decals that could be displayed on trash bins. The traffic engineer explained that not only would these decals avoid the ROW issue, but they’d also help all the neighbors send the same safety message once a week to all drivers. 

The decal project became a popular campaign for KKAD25 with the clever title of “America’s Trash Talks to Keep Kids Alive.” The first community to ever participate in the Trash Talks campaign was Oro Valley, Arizona in August of 1999.    A study was conducted on those initial decals, and a 13.5% reduction in speed was noted not only on days the decals were displayed but also on days when the bins were not curbside. Tom referred to this type of campaign as a “passive approach to safety,” meaning that speeds were reduced WITHOUT issuing tickets or reengineering a roadway; it was strictly community engagement. “They engaged the community and the community made change”

Omaha, NE

Prior to the City of Omaha’s new waste and recycling contract, Tom tried hard to partner with the City to implement the KKAD25 “Trash Talks to Keep Kids Alive” campaign. While he said he had the verbal support of Mayor Stothert, the partnership ultimately, and unfortunately, did not come to fruition.

But you can purchase decals for your yourself or your neighborhood association via the KKAD decals page.

Here’s a photo of Tom showing off one of these decals.

What About Omaha?

Once Tom told the tale of the trash bin decals in Omaha, I asked him what he thinks about the current state of community engagement in Omaha. His response was thoughtful and encouraging.

“One of the challenges for a city is to recognize there are so many partners out there that need to be drawn into the process. You can’t build something from the ground up by going out and saying ‘This is our plan and you are going to be a part of it.’ For our city to be successful, it ultimately hinges on engaging the grassroots representation of the community to give it a uniquely Omaha feel.” 

While he did praise the Omaha Police Department for its continued support of KKAD25, Tom hopes that the new Vision Zero initiative and forthcoming VZ Action Plan process, will help to garner more community engagement around street safety and speed reduction.

Beyond Progress to Participation

Similar to Jeff Sobczyk’s comments in our inaugural SOS interview, Tom also believes we need to encompass more progressive thinking in Omaha. However, he then made this surprising and thought provoking statement: 

“Progressive to me means NOT always looking at what worked in other cities. No solution or campaign has to be homogenous - different parts of the city have different issues.” 

True change can only happen when you engage the people living in the communities, and this truly is a theme not just in KKAD25 but in Tom’s life as well. He is, as he says, a “connector,” and this statement couldn’t be truer. He remembers every project and community he’s worked with, and always gives credit to the ideas that did not originate with him. Not only does he make an imprint on communities, but the  people in those communities make an imprint on him. And I don’t believe this would be possible if Tom didn’t adhere to one of his personal mantras of “be a listener, not a dictator."

After our interview, Tom emailed me about a local partnership between KKAD25 and Children's Hospital through the Safe Kids Coalition which created co-branded yard signs and trash can decals that will be distributed at community events. Visit the KKAD25 website and listen to their podcast to keep up on both the ongoing and newly launched campaigns and projects.

Wrap Up

As we wrapped up our time together, I posed this last question to Tom,

“What is your final piece of advice or guidance to the citizens of Omaha, advocacy organizations, etc?”

Tom left with me this,

“A lot of us have heard of the power of One. If we are waiting for somebody else to do something then probably very little will get done, but if we realize - as we are driving or riding - that our power lies in what we can take control over, this will help people be safe. Ask yourself ‘what is in my power to do?” 

This approach can manifest itself in something as simple but life-saving as stopping at stop signs and red lights.

Tom ended where he began, with talk of building relationships; “go find somebody who is positive and spread the word because your story will resonate with others, that’s where the momentum and the ripple effects begin.”

Thanks to Tom for all his time and knowledge. Beyond founding KKAD25, Tom was also the head of the City of Omaha’s Vision Zero Task Force which ultimately recommended the City hire a Vision Zero coordinator. Visit the KKAD25 website for a comprehensive understanding of all their amazing safety initiatives and order signs and decals for your neighborhood to start your own KKAD25 safety campaign!

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(1) The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) does not recommend street art be used on any public roads and provides no exception for intersection murals or street art. Licensed traffic engineers are regulated by State regulations to adopt and follow the MUTCD. Additionally, the City Law Department has advised that Public Works remain compliant with the MUTCD. Thus, unless something changes at the federal level in the MUTCD, Omaha cannot legally allow for intersection murals, etc. The City does allow for bike lanes to be painted green, as evidenced by the Harney Bikeway. I plan to do an in-depth post about Street Art & Regulations so stay tuned!