19,515 people In the United States were killed in a car accident in 2023. Driver safety is a prominent issue not only in the United States, but also in Nebraska. I am passionate about spreading awareness on safe driving because of the direct impacts unsafe driving has had on my community. According to the Highway Safety Section Nebraska Department of Transportation, there were 9,037 car accidents, 46 fatal accidents, 4,646 accidents that resulted in injury, and 5,777 that resulted in only damage to property. In my community, four girls our age were killed in a car accident due to distracted and unsafe driving. We saw the impact of their death on the lives of our close friends and family members. Looking at these statistics and knowing that the deaths of the young girls could have been preventable, reaffirmed the need for change and advocacy for safe driving in our community.
My goal was to impact drivers and passengers in Douglas County, ages ranging from 11-50 years old, while primarily advocating to middle and high school students and teachers. The time I set for the goal to be completed was between September and April. To measure the progress I made, I surveyed students and accumulated statistics about safe driving in my school. I asked 200 students 4 questions. The first question was “Have you ever been pulled over?” 5 students answered yes and the rest no. The second question was “Do you consider yourself a safe driver?” 140 students answered yes while 60 said no. The third question was “Do you wear a seatbelt?” 108 students answered yes and 92 said no. And finally, I asked “Do you look at your phone while in the driver's seat?” An alarming 124 students responded yes and 76 said no. These statistics within my school showed me what needed to change in order to advocate for safer driving.
The national Program Families acting for community traffic safety or FACTS, is broken down into three units: vehicles, roads, and people. The goal of this program is to advocate and promote the roles of each unit and to better understand the importance they play when driving.
To best advocate for FACTS and the units, I created a slideshow presentation that played during homeroom at my school with questions to be prompted to the students. Additionally, I sent in my slideshow to the school activities director so my slides could play on the daily bulletin on the TVs throughout the school. This allowed the full 1,000-person student body to see the slides multiple times throughout the day and have the opportunity to read more about what it means to be a safe driver.
In the slideshow, I broke down each unit and gave examples of questions that promote safe driving. An example for People is “Are you wearing your seatbelt?” (show the slides)
An example for vehicles is “Do you have a spare tire?” and for roads, I provided various hazards that a driver must be prepared to endure.
Advocating and practicing being a safe driver means wearing a seatbelt, having spare tires, driving the speed limit, being present. Driver and passenger education can allow a reduced number of deaths because people will be aware and attentive of the issue.
Having my slides on the school slideshow prompted the opportunity for me to meet with the school’s admin. I initially went into the meeting hoping to donate money in order to replace damaged traffic signs at the school. However, the meeting quickly turned into so much more. I was met with gratitude and curiosity from the admin towards my project. My principal expressed his support for my project and wanted to learn more about the roles both teens and adults play in promoting driver safety.
With a portion of the money I received from my grant, I was able to fund the replacement of damaged traffic signs and the placement of new ones at the school. Whatever money that was not used for the traffic signs has been set aside by the administration for any roadway concern or traffic sign in the future.
In order to impact as many people as possible, I decided to create a PSA for the FCCLA Safe Rides Save Lives competition. The theme for this year's Safe Rides Save Lives PSA is passenger advocacy. So, I created a 25-second video highlighting the importance of advocating for myself and others if a driver is being unsafe.
The PSA clearly exemplifies the unit “people” in the national program FACTS. Through my project, I was able to reach students at my school, community members, and friends. In order to reach even more people, I frequently posted on my chapter Instagram about traffic safety, the FACTS national program, and my PSA video.
To continue spreading awareness, I worked at a concession stand during a boys' basketball game at my school in January. All of the profits I earned working the stand were donated to the American Traffic Safety Service Association or ATSSA. The mission of the ATSSA is to advance roadway safety through installing road safety and traffic control devices. Their goal aligned with the FACTS unit roads, making it the perfect place to donate my funds. During the game, I also handed out fliers with statistics about traffic injuries and accidents in my county, as well as suckers and lifesavers that contained traffic facts on the wrappers. (hold up sucker and flier)
Originally, while working the concession stand, I planned to host a crash simulator sponsored by the Nebraska State Patrol. Sadly, after reaching out, they informed me the simulator was no longer in use. While this was a small setback, I was still able to make an impact on my community.
To continue spreading awareness, I went to a middle school in my school district during their homeroom and gave my presentation and showed my PSA. In order to keep the students fully engaged, I had them partake in a game. I had mini scooters for the students to drive around in while they held a cup of ping pong balls on top of a tray and drove through cones. The ping pong balls represented the distraction a driver would have if they were on their phone.
After I gave my presentation and conducted my game, I handed out bracelets for each student as a reminder to advocate for driver safety and to be a part of the solution, not the problem.
In order to make a lasting impact, I advocated for LB 1033. This bill was proposed in Nebraska Legislation to make texting and driving a primary offense. Texting and Driving is already a primary offense in surrounding states such as Colorado, Iowa, and South Dakota.
By speaking with two senators, attention to the dangers of unsafe driving was presented to people who could make an impact across the state.
I recognized that the impacts I was able to have in my community from this project were huge. However, it is just as important that I continue to make these impacts even after this year. To continue to advocate, my administration agreed to put driver safety facts in the emails that are sent out every week to every parent and student.
We need to be a part of drivers solutions and not create problems to reduce deaths and responsibly abide by the rules of the law.