Nevada students have a chance to see their artwork transformed into a public mural through a new road safety art contest hosted by the Nevada Department of Transportation and Visit Carson City.
The contest is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade across Nevada and encourages original, hand-drawn artwork that promotes road safety.
Students are invited to create drawings that highlight safe travel while walking or biking to school, or while using skates, skateboards, or wheelchairs. Artwork that emphasizes the health and safety benefits of active transportation will receive bonus points.
The grand prize-winning artwork will be painted as a mural in Carson City during the Carson City Mural and Music Festival in September.
Entries must be created by hand and cannot be computer- or photo-generated. Acceptable materials include watercolor, colored pencil, acrylic oil paint, marker, pen, and crayon on an 11-by-17-inch or similarly sized sheet of paper. Artwork should include traffic safety elements, such as bicycle helmets.
Submissions must be received by September 1 and may be mailed to the Active Transportation Office, NDOT Active Transportation, 1263 South Stewart St., Room 319, Carson City, NV 89712, or emailed to activetransportation@dot.nv.gov.
The contest is intended to inspire young people and all Nevadans to share the road safely.
It is part of Nevada's Safe Routes to School program, which provides training, infrastructure and resources to help elementary schoolchildren safely walk and bicycle to school. The program also promotes walking and bicycling as ways to reduce roadway congestion while improving air quality and health.
Additional bicycle and pedestrian safety information is available at BicycleNevada.com.
The department also reminds drivers to watch for children walking and biking, slow down in school zones, and remember that children's movements can be unpredictable. Drivers must stop for school buses that are picking up or dropping off students.
Pedestrians and bicyclists are encouraged to remain attentive, cross legally and safely, and watch for vehicles before and while crossing the street.
