Northwestern High School SADD chapter in Springfield, Ohio, captures first prize in DrivingSkills101 contest from SADD and National Road Safety Foundation
Marlborough, MA / www.myprgenie.com / ACCESSWIRE / May 28, 2014 / Youth leaders from the Northwestern High School SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) chapter in Springfield, Ohio captured first place and won $2,500 in a nationwide driving skills contest sponsored by SADD and The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF). The prize money will support the local traffic crash prevention programs developed by the teens.
"Traffic crashes are the number one killer of teens, and young drivers are involved in fatal crashes at three times the rate of older drivers," said Penny Wells, SADD President and CEO. "Many crashes are due largely to teens' driving inexperience and this contest is designed to help build awareness of driving risks. Throughout our 33 years, SADD students have left a tangible mark on American society, representing a culture change on the issue of impaired driving. Today, our students are teaching their peers about other challenges they face behind the wheel."
The #DrivingSkills101@UrTurn contest challenged teens to create a safe driving campaign with three goals of gaining school involvement, media engagement and community interaction. Students at each school were afforded the opportunity to determine which aspect of driving skills they wanted to tackle, from blind spots, handling intersections, left turns, merging into traffic, to speeding and tailgating.
"Seven teens ages 16 to 19 die every day in motor vehicle crashes," said Jason Demeter, student spokesperson at Northwestern High School SADD. "Our Drive Smart, Drive Safe program provided new knowledge and skills to better prepare young drivers and decrease these alarming statistics."
The chapter's Drive Smart, Drive Safe program included in-school announcements, "Rules of the Road" videos, educational posters and activities to expose the entire student body to the campaign during lunchtime. The SADD chapter members staffed a booth at lunch for two days, providing a special video and tips on safe driving techniques to reduce speeding and tailgating and improve drivers' understanding of handling blind spots.
The group also organized a special event where students played "blind side basketball," wearing special goggles which limited their peripheral vision. This created a fun and highly visual way to show how difficult it is to function without seeing all that is around them, highlighting the dangers of operating a vehicle without being aware of and checking blind spots. The "blindside basketball" activity gained coverage in the local media. Northwestern students also signed a jumbo poster, pledging to change their driving behavior by being aware of blind spots.
This year's contest and campaign rollout are the second phase of the NRSF/SADD partnership. The #DrivingSkills@UrTurn concept was vetted by a dozen youth leaders comprising the SADD National Student Leadership Council. Winning entries were judged on information and messaging, creativity, teen-friendliness and engagement by the school, community and media. The second-place winner, the Allegheny Teen Safe Driving Committee of Pittsburgh, Pa., received $1,500 from NRSF and third-place winner, Crisfield Academy & High School SADD of Crisfield, Md., won a $500 award.
"We are excited to support SADD's work and mission of empowering young people to promote positive decision-making, especially involving driving," said Michelle Anderson, Director of Operations for The National Road Safety Foundation. "This latest campaign aligns perfectly with our goals of preventing teen injuries and deaths on America's roadways. We look forward to continuing this strong partnership with SADD and offering more young people opportunities to better inform their peers about safe driving."
About SADD
For 33 years, SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), headquartered in Marlborough, Mass., has been committed to empowering young people to lead education and prevention initiatives in their schools and communities. Founded as Students Against Driving Drunk in 1981, SADD has become the nation's leading peer-to-peer youth education, prevention, and activism organization, with thousands of chapters in middle schools, high schools, and colleges. SADD now highlights prevention of many destructive behaviors and attitudes that are harmful to young people, including underage drinking, substance abuse, risky and impaired driving, and teen violence and suicide. To become a Friend of SADD or for more information, visit us online at sadd.org or parentteenmatters.org or follow SADD on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Linkedin.
About The National Road Safety Foundation
The National Road Safety Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c)(3) non-profit charitable organization founded more than 50 years ago, produces traffic safety programs on distracted driving, speed and aggression, impaired driving, drowsy driving, driver proficiency, pedestrian safety and a host of other road safety issues. It distributes the programs free of charge to schools, police and traffic safety advocates, community groups and individuals. For more information or to download free programs, visit www.nrsf.org or www.teenlane.org.
Contact: David Reich, [email protected], 212-573-6000
SOURCE: Students Against Destructive Decisions