Drive Safe

I stood in the school hallway as the woman dressed in dark clothing walked up and introduced herself as the mother of Destiny. As she lifted her chin from her chest, it was obvious her head hanging was more common than keeping her head held high. Then as my eyes met her eyes, through the muzzy brownness color, I saw true, unimaginable pain. The kind of pain a mother, who has lost her only daughter, is capable of knowing. I learned Destiny’s heartbreaking story of being a passenger in a vehicle traveling 60 mph over the speed limit when the inexperienced driver lost control and a light pole was Destiny’s final destination.

Through real life stories, students can empathize and form a deeper understanding of the true impact dangerous driving can have. Combined with education and supporting facts, students are able to establish the validity of the educational claims and know the dangers of driving, and the forever consequences that come with recklessness. Educating students on the power of operating a 2000 lb vehicle and the responsibility of safe and aware driving will help foster safer driving habits among new teenage drivers. Adding bona fide accounts of actual situations, although heart breaking and hard to hear, provides an empathy piece to the education of students and helps solidify a commitment to safe driving.

One of the most difficult tasks is creating long-lasting educational programs that students will not only listen to, but will implement each time they drive. With these programs, the goal of reducing the amount of risky behaviors will ultimately reduce the number of driving related deaths and injuries. With teenage students being the least experienced and participating in more risky behaviors, there is a strong need for more education and awareness programs, as well as a constant review and modification of legislation related to driving. These modifications will help add beneficial consequences thereby decreasing the amount of risky behaviors that lead to injuries and deaths.

With strong legislation and active enforcement of critical driving infractions, especially among teenagers, we will see a shift in teenagers working harder to avoid consequences by bettering their driving habits. Targeted areas should include speeding laws and reckless driving laws. We will see with more enforcement and consequences, the amount of accidents will decrease, as well as injuries and deaths. When teenagers are faced with strict consequences their self-preservation instinct will kick in and they will better manage their risky driving behaviors and become better drivers.

I pride myself on being a good driver and I have worked hard on my driving habits because I understand the responsibility of driving and controlling such a powerful machine. Despite following all the rules, I was in a car accident this past summer. As I entered the roundabout, the bump impact I felt on the back driver’s side of my car was unmistakable. I knew I had been hit by another driver because I hadn’t allotted enough space. This was an eye opening experience for me to know I can and need to continue to work on my driving skills and stay ultra alert as I navigate my vehicle on the streets. I learned I cannot take for granted the need to always improve my driving skills as I continue to drive more often.

Safe driving has always been something my mother, a police officer, has drilled into my head. It has become so important to me and my daily life, that I chose to do my DECA Senior Project on “Drive Safe.” I wanted to use my passion and knowledge to create an educational week for my peers to show them the importance of safe driving.

During this week, two of my peers and I worked extremely hard to bring awareness through guest speakers, displayed facts and statistics, interactive stations students could participate in, as well as games and fundraisers to support a local foundation in their educational efforts for safer teenage driving. The Sammie’s Sunshine Foundation was established after Sammie, a local high school student, died in a car crash. Sammie wasn’t wearing her seatbelt and was ejected from the car. Sammie’s mom runs the foundation and happily partnered with our school to educate our students.

The week began with a volleyball tournament for sixteen teams of students with a Drive Safe theme and donation money for Sammie’s Sunshine Foundation. I custom designed sweatshirts specifically for the week, and we sold out the 300 sweatshirts we produced. I also sought out partnerships with several local restaurants who provided gift cards for winners of daily drive safe educational games we provided for students during the lunch periods. Part of our games at lunch used data and stats, provided by the students, to add to our drive safe displayed facts.

A paper chain with 754 links was hung in the main hallway to represent the number of people who died in 2022 from car crashes. This visual representation was a stark reminder of how many lives have been taken by car accidents. In addition to the paper chain, giant posters with pictures of our peers in the school who have been personally impacted by car crashes were displayed. The stories of our peers were heart wrenching and grabbed the most attention. The life and death balance tends to look different when it is seen through the stories of people we know.

Factual posters were also displayed to show students the statistics surrounding speeding, distracted driving, drowsy driving, wearing seatbelts, and impaired driving. Each day of the week focused on one of these topics and through our educational efforts, conversations among the students focused on the specific topic of the day. Each student driver was given an air freshener from Sammie’s Sunshine Foundation with a reminder printed to “Buckle Up,” the slogan used to remind of Sammie’s crash and spread the foundation’s message. Almost every car in the parking lot displayed these air fresheners and currently still do.

One popular educational piece we provided was the “impaired goggle” station. Students put on goggles simulating impairment and worked with our School Resource Officer to walk around and try to perform DUI testing maneuvers. This reality based activity showed the students how impairment can truly impact their capabilities. We also painted students’ thumbnails as a reminder not to text and drive.

When the week was finished, we successfully raised over $7000 for The Sammie Sunshine Foundation to assist in their future educational efforts, as well helping our peers be aware of their own driving habits and providing educational aspects for our students to refer to. The feedback was extremely positive and many parents and teachers voiced their approval and excitement for all their students had learned.

The educational aspects of driving safe, are an on-going effort and need to be addressed consistently. My future goal, along with Sammie Sunshine Foundation, is to encourage legislation in creating stricter laws regarding unsafe driving, and request more frequent enforcement of said laws by our local law enforcement agencies.

I believe my passion for driving safe, and my commitment to helping my peers establish and maintain safe driving habits has already made a difference and saved lives and I look forward to continuing my efforts and saving more lives in the future!