We are all guilty of this deadly habit, yet many of us don’t even know when we are doing it. Our dependence on cell phones makes us do it even more. The offense is driving distracted. It happens when we are talking, texting, dialing, reaching, eating, reading or even grooming while we are driving and the results can be fatal. Nearly 20% of all crash fatalities involve distracted driving and texting while driving increases crash risk 23 times greater than driving while not distracted. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car crashes are the number one cause of death for teens in this country.
Concerned by these staggering statistics, Upper Dublin High School Driver Education Instructor Bret Stover and his students applied for a grant to launch a distracted driving awareness campaign to address the issue and change teen driving behaviors, even before some students are old enough to get behind the wheel. After a rigorous judging process, Upper Dublin High School was selected to receive a Project Ignition teen driver safety grant coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council® and funded by State Farm®.
The grant supports a local campaign aimed at preventing car crashes. Through the generosity of Lehigh Valley Health Network, students in grades nine through twelve participated in a special school-wide assembly on February 16th presented by Dr. Bryan Kane, Emergency Trauma Physician who delivered a powerful message about the risks of distracted driving. Students were deeply impacted by blunt statistics and Kane’s personal experience dealing with accident victims. On February 23rd, Joel Feldman of Springfield, Pennsylvania and founder of End Distracted Driving conducted a dialog with sophomores about the many forms of distracted driving and the very real consequences of those actions. In a workshop approach, Feldman used student role playing and solicited examples of how to handle situations in which teens are put at risk. Emotional videos were shown to students illustrating the painful repercussions of such actions by a presenter who is all too familiar with what is at stake. Feldman’s daughter Casey was tragically killed as a pedestrian by a distracted driver in 2009.
“Distracted driving has become a major concern for us,” commented Bret Stover, Driver Education Instructor and advisor of the Project Ignition campaign. “We want to take a proactive approach to prevent accidents by teaching students about the dangers of this behavior, rather than a reactive approach after a tragedy. Cell phones have become such an important part of our lives, but they are not compatible with driving.” Stover added that he hoped this grant and campaign will cause a change in attitude and driving habits making the community a safer place.
The students have been busy promoting the message by making posters and developing a public service announcement to warn other teens. “In partnership with State Farm, we are continually amazed by the students who lead Project Ignition campaigns. These youth are well informed and uniquely positioned to offer a critical voice to help influence their peers’ risky driving behaviors. The fact that youth work with teachers to link the campaigns to their academic coursework, gives us confidence that this program strengthens schools as it also helps to save young lives,” said Kelita Svoboda Bak, NYLC CEO.
By Pam Ryan
