CHILD SAFETY PRESS RELEASES

WEST SALEM, Ohio, July 31, 2007 (NBC) -- An Ohio man is turning a practical joke into a creative safety campaign and he's even making a few bucks doing it.

Traffic flow along West Salem's Main Street has frightened children for a long time.

"The speed limit is 55 MPH just down the street," explained Mike Wood, who lives near the downtown area. "Then over here, it changes to 35 mph so cars come speeding by."

Then Wood put some pictures of his children in his front yard and ever since then, drivers have been slowing down. Some even take the time to call him on the phone. Often, they're yelling.

"At first they're mad because they think, 'why are these people letting their kids out by the road'," he said.

Those pictures are life-size cut-out posters. They are so realistic that Wood played a joke on his neighbors with the first one he made. He placed it in their front yard. After several hours and several glances out the window, they called him.

"I said 'I think you better check on Katie,'" said Laura Kelling, who lives next door. "He said 'Why honey?' I said, 'She's just standing out there. I think she's standing out there sleeping."

Wood uses a real photograph to make the cut-outs.

"We use a high resolution printer. We use outdoor vinyl and outdoor ink so they can be put outside in the weather with no problem," said Wood.

Recently, Wood made a sign out of a sheriff's deputy. The snapshot depicts the officer holding a radar gun. Suddenly, his little home-based business became a money-maker.

"It's already been posted on some law enforcement websites around the country and now they're calling and wanting how they can get one like that," he said.

Still, he doesn't care about the money, he just wants to make streets safer.

"If it can help save some kids or protect some kids, that's one of the best things for me," he said.