Nearly half of all high school students in the United States who are 16 years of age or older, text or email while driving, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And that’s a deadly recipe. “Traffic crashes
Nearly half of all high school students in the United States who are 16 years of age or older, text or email while driving, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And that’s a deadly recipe.
“Traffic crashes are the No. 1 cause of death among U.S. teens, with 5,000 young people killed annually and thousands more injured,” said David Reich of The National Road Safety Foundation.
Kauai isn’t exempt from those trends.
And some locals are entering a contest to promote awareness on the topic offered by the National Road Safety Foundation.
“I’ve learned you should never take your eyes off the road,” said Saedy Tumaneng, a 16-year-old sophomore student driver at Kauai High School.
Open to people between the ages of 14-18 years of age, it offers teens the opportunity to submit a radio PSA that talks to teens about the risks of distracted driving.
The winner will receive $500, and the winning PSA will also be broadcast nationally on the air and online.
Two runners-up will each receive a $250 prize.
“Being a beginning driver, I know we are at higher risk if we don’t practice safe driving,” said Tumaneng.
Her PSA refers to how life-threatening distracted driving can be and that anything could happen if you don’t put all your attention on the task.
Those looking to enter must hurry, as entries must be received by today
Alicia Miyashiro teaches classrooms of 25 student drivers four times a week in an after-school driver’s education classes at Kauai High School.
“We have a whole unit on distracted driving in the curriculum,” said Miyashiro. “The kids are required to sign a pledge that they won’t drink and drive and they won’t drive distracted.”
Miyashiro offers the students practical solutions when driving such as having a passenger change the radio station instead of taking their attention off the road to change it themselves.
Texting while driving is another common distraction she covers with the teens.
“A quarter of all teens admit to texting behind the wheel and the highest proportion of distracted drivers in fatal crashes is those under the age of 20,” said Jan Meeker, of the Hawaii Department of Education.
“As today’s technology enables young people to be constantly connected with friends, distracted driving is a major problem that is growing exponentially.”
Info: www.teenlane.org.
