honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 2:19 p.m., Monday, November 10, 2008

Student leaders learn about driving safety

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer

English students and football players from Waipahu and Pearl City high schools will become the messengers of change today.

They are armed with facts and figures that the No. 1 killer of teenagers is car crashes, something they learned this morning at a workshop at the Ala Moana Hotel as part of the Keep The Drive program.

The two schools participated today in the first-ever Keep The Drive program in Honolulu, sponsored by the Allstate Foundation, which holds 14 such workshops around the country every year. The goal is to encourage students to take the lead in educating others that they need to drive smart.

Today, 34 junior varsity football players made posters, wrote lyrics for rap songs and planned a rally to educate others in their community about the need to wear seatbelts, drive without distractions, don't drink and drive and don't speed, said Meaghan Hagensick, Allstate Foundation teen leadership trainer.

"We want to start a spark," Hagensick said. "We want them to go back to school and educate each other about safe driving."

The program is in it's third year. The statistics speak for themselves, Hagensick said:

  • 5,000 teenagers in the nation are killed every year and 300,00 injured in car crashes.

  • Teens are four times more likely to crash a car than older drivers.

  • The high-risk driving days are during the summer months from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

    "It's important that they understand that when they start driving they know safety," said Bryson Carvalho, Waipahu High school football coach. "They're responsible for themselves and others on the road."

    Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.