• Elmer debuted in 1947 when his Toronto Safety
 Council-sponsored program was introduced to
 Toronto elementary schools. In the program's first
 year automobile collisions involving children
 dropped by 44 per cent.

 ( NOTE: Shortly after, the term ELMER appeared in the
amateur community as a person that would mentor new
amateurs in the then new art and science of radio.
Is this where the term elmer 'as used in ham radio' came from?
I don't know but it is something to think about. )

 • Elmer the Safety Elephant was the brainchild of
 former Toronto mayor Robert Hood Saunders,
 who was inspired by a safety program set up in
 elementary schools in Detroit, Mich.

• Sponsored by the Detroit Times newspaper, the
 U.S. program used a safety patrol boy as its
 mascot and had helped raise awareness of road
 safety among the city's children in 1946. Saunders
 enlisted the Toronto Evening Telegram as a
 sponsor, and the backing of the Toronto Police to
 bring the program to the classroom.

• Saunders and Vernon Page, a police inspector,
 are credited with developing the original Elmer who
 was chosen as a mascot because of the legendary
 memory elephants are reputed to have. • The first
 Elmer was little more than an image of a standard
 elephant in profile. In 1948 Saunders decided to
 liven up Elmer's image by recruiting Charles
 Thorson, an animator who had worked with Walt
 Disney and Warner Brothers studios in the 1930s,
 to redesign the mascot.
 

Thorson came up with the
 now familiar Elmer design in 1948. This grinning
 Elmer came complete with a sailor's cap and bow
 and proved much more appealing to school
 children. • The Toronto Safety Council had
 costumes made up that were worn in Elmer's many
 appearances in classrooms and Saturday movie
 matinees. An integral part of Elmer the Safety
 Elephant's mission was the coveted safety flag
 which flew above schools as an incentive for kids to
 stay out of accidents.
 
 

• Originally meant for the city of Toronto, the Elmer
 program proved so popular that in 1962 it was
 expanded across Canada. The Canada Highway
 Safety Council took control of the national safety
 program. • The Canada Safety COuncil negotiated
 the copyright for Elmer in 1971 after the Toronto
 Telegram went out of business. As of 2005, the
 council still retained the Elmer copyright and had
 expanded his message to include railroad safety,
 internet safety and bullying.