Junior high and high school students from Loomis Public School took part in a Teen Safe Driving event. This assembly, hosted by Phelps County Safe Communities Coalition, Phelps Memorial Health Center, CHI Health Good Samaritan, and Safe Kids Platte Valley explained the many dangers involved with driving and included multiple interactive stations.
Tracy Rademacher, RN, Safe Kids Platte Valley Coordinator, told students that motor vehicle crashes are the #1 cause of injury and death for Nebraska teens.
She shared that many common crash factors that increase risk include: driving at night, fatigue, speeding, not wearing a seat belt, alcohol/drugs, as well as distractions such as cell phones, texting, and other teen passengers.
Students took turns on the driving course and had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a pedal car with a friend seated next to them. Teens drove through an obstacle course while wearing goggles that simulated distractions including brief moments that blacked out the goggles while maneuvering turns and avoiding cones.
“The students were highly engaged with the program,” said Jeff Ellsworth, Loomis School Principal. “Driving the pedal car while wearing the electronic impairment goggles was a huge hit. Hopefully, they all took something positive away that will impact them and keep them safe.”
Students rotated through other stations and were able to try to complete tasks and games while wearing impairment goggles. Some goggles showed the effects of alcohol impairments while others showed THC impairment or a combination of both.
Rademacher shared with students that statistics showed 16.7% of United States high school students rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol at least once during the 30 days before the survey, according to a CDC survey.
She also shared that drivers ages 16-20 years old are 17 times more likely to die in a crash when they have a BAC of .08% compared to when they have not been drinking (CDC).
Rademacher said, “The majority of teenagers involved in fatal crashes are unbuckled. Seat belts, when used properly, reduced the number of serious traffic injuries by 50% and fatalities by 60-70%.”
In 2022, 50% of teen drivers who died were unbuckled. Even more troubling, when the teen driver involved in the fatal crash was unbuckled, nine out of 10 of the passengers who died were also unbuckled (NHTSA).
Keri Berry, Phelps County Safe Communities Coalition Coordinator, said “The assembly allowed us to help educate students and show how dangerous impairments and distractions can be while they are behind the wheel.” She added, “If we can get young drivers to understand it is their personal decisions that will ultimately decide if they have a safe drive or not, then we’ll all be better off because of it.”
