WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Nikhil Badlani Foundation, the Essex County Public Safety Academy and West Orange High School have partnered to create Traffic Safety Awareness artwork that will appear on NJ Transit buses beginning in May.
The Nikhil Badlani Foundation was founded in 2011 following the death of 11-year-old Nikhil Badlani in an auto accident caused by a distracted driver. NBF works to promote traffic safety, provide instrumental music training for West Orange students and voice lessons to special-needs students, and provide scholarships for graduating WOHS and Columbia High School seniors.
NBF has been working with the WOHS driver’s education classes since January to raise awareness on the dangers of distracted driving. Graduated driver’s license laws, obeying traffic laws, and the importance of seat belts. Students illustrated their observations to be transferred onto Plexiglas to create a traffic safety mural.
On March 10, WOHS driver’s ed classes worked on Plexiglas sheets that had their designs and slogans traced on them. Sangeeta Badlani of the foundation and artist Cindy Klein worked with students to paint and glue crushed tissue paper onto the designs. Once the Plexiglas sheets are completed, Klein will prepare them for installation on the windows of Tarnoff Cafeteria, creating a stained-glass effect.
Photos of the artwork will appear on NJ Transit buses beginning in May, which is Global Youth Traffic Safety Month. The foundation will hold a contest for WOHS students to name the mural.
“We want to get the students’ message out and raise traffic safety awareness,” Sangeeta Badlani said in a release. “This is an immersive exercise for the students, and it will help to reinforce the message.”
Slogans created by students that appear on the panels include “Stay Alert, Don’t Get Hurt,” “Open Roads, Open Eyes,” “Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself,” and “Traffic Rules are Safety Tools.”
Andy Anderson of the Essex County Public Safety Academy was also on hand to quiz students on traffic safety during lunch and, along with Badlani, distribute prizes for correct answers.
“We want students to think about traffic safety in fun and different ways,” Anderson said in the release. “This project is creative and they’re learning something important.”
Anderson went on to say that two bills have currently been released from Committee. A-3406 would establish a teen driver orientation program; driver’s permit applicants under age 18 and their parents would be required to complete the program. A-3407 would require special learner’s permit holders and examination permit holders under age 21 to complete at least 50 hours of practice driving, with at least 10 of those hours completed at night, under a parent or guardian’s supervision.
For more information on the Nikhil Badlani Foundation, visit http://nikhilbadlanifoundation.org/.
Photos Courtesy of the Nikhil Badlani Foundation
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