The Stats of Driving Safety

Check out this PSA the head football coaches from our three high schools helped us put together. These coaches coming together, despite long standing sportsman like rivals, is symbolic of how we all need to do our part to promote driving safety. Regardless of where you live, how old you are, or your level of experience car crashes can happen. I know that this PSA really made some of our hard to reach students sit up and take notice because their coaches were on the screen. This PSA was played on our televised morning announcements, on our local cable channel, and will be made available county wide to help raise awareness.

Through the Foundation for Traffic Safety, we purchased a computer simulator program called Driver-ZED. This program allows students to work through scenarios in order to practice safe driving skills. The program walks students through simulated driving experiences and requires them answer questions and "take action" in simple and complex traffic situations. Our club members are currently familiarizing themselves with the software so that we can use it at future events to raise awareness about driving dangers. We also supplied our drivers education teachers a copy of the program so it can be used in the classroom with students in 10th grade.

Our school paper helps us to promote future events such as our Chain of Life activity. Publicity really helps to spread the word and raise awareness.

Another Showcase

This second showcase display focuses on the stats provided by Keep the Drive. Knowing that we loose so many young people to car crash each day, month, and year is eye opening. By keeping the display simple we hoped to reinforce the simple truth that people are dying and we can all do our part to prevent it. As YOVASO has taught us, they are car crashes, not accidents because they are preventable and predictable.

Showcase

We previously conducted a Seat belt Survey checking to see how many of our students/parents left our school parking lot wearing their seat belts and without distractions like cell phones, music, and/or other passengers. As a result, we found out that only 80% of our students are wearing their seat belt when they exit the student parking lot. (Keep in mind that this only includes students who leave immediately at the end of the school day, not students who stay for after school activities.) We also found out that 25% of our students are distracted drivers leaving the parking lot. Surprisingly, we also determined that only 65% of the parents picking students up from the school were wearing their seat belts. We took the information and created a display for students informing them that 20% of our students at risk behind the wheel is not acceptable. "20% is not ok with us!"

Liberty High School YOVASO will be conducting the following activities during the Act Out Loud campaign. Please come to these events and be a part of positive change in driving habits in our community.

Showcase displays
displays with information and props related to driving safety

Seatbelt Fashion show
Accessories created using seatbelts. Show taped for and aired on our televised morning announcements.

Elementary school visit
visit to our neighboring elementary school to discuss bike, bus, and care safety with second graders

Visit roll call for local law enforcement
providing our local law enforcement with treats and thank you cards for help making our roads safer

Ghost day
wearing t-shirts labeling students as mock crash victims. There are 4 designs total

Chain of life
students sign paper pledges to buckle up, drive sober, and without distractions. Pledges are then linked together and displayed in our school so students can see our level of dedication to safer driving

Memory Wall
Students use fake bricks to post messages in memory of friends or family they have lost in car crashes. The wall is constructed and displayed for students so that they can see how much we are all impacted by unsafe driving.

Seatbelt Survey
Record data as to how many of our students and teachers leave our parking lot wearing seatbelts and if they are focused on the road or distracted. Data is tracked and shared with the student body to demonstrate the severity of those issues and hopefully improvements as well.

Public Service Announcements
PSAs taped for and aired on our morning announcements relevant to the activities we are conducting and driving safety in general

“Safety Saturday”
Outdoor, open to public event, held on Saturday May 16th including such events as:
Fatal Vision Goggles
Radar simulation
Rollover Simulator
Seat Belt Convincer
Child Safety Seat Inspections
Local Volunteer Fire Department
local car insurance representatives
local members of law enforcement and the justice system
guest speakers, such as crash survivors and family members

Only the planning and publicity for this event will be posted to our blog because the event does not take place until after the competition deadline to begin voting.

So excited

LHS YOVASO is so excited to be participating in the Act Out Loud competition. Our organization is all about speaking out, Youth of Virginia Speak Out. Our mission is to help raise awareness within our school and community about driving safety issues. We truly hope that our activities/events make a difference by changing some bad habits. Who knows how many lives can be saved. Join us by remembering to buckle up, drive sober, and pay attention to the road instead of your friends or cell phones. Remind the other drivers you know to do the same.