Gearing Up

It's crazy busy getting ready for NYTSM. We've been trying to get the word out in our school and community. We recently hung up posters around the school and are trying to get local business to post them on their walls or in their windows. We also gave each teacher a NYTSM planning calendar to hang in their classrooms. I know how I am. I always need to check the date for something, even if it's just counting how many days left in the school year. So we thought the calendars would be a good attention getter. We also tried to pick great spots for the posters where people might actually take the time to read them. Next week is our Memory wall and Chain of Life activity. Wish us luck. We're hoping a lot of students will sign our safe driving pledge.

More local press

We were honored with a brief article in the April issue of Discover Fauquier Values.

Local Press

We were recently featured in our local paper, The Fauquier Times Democrat. The article helps us to spread the word and get the community involved. We're also going to try to put posters in local businesses to raise awarness.

Restrictions on Teen Drivers

I'm Amanda Mills and I've been a YOVASO member fortwo years now. I think it's good that we have specific laws for teen drivers. If teens didn't have rules to follow, there would be a lot more fatal crashes. A teen only being allowed to have one passenger in the car is good because it won't distract the driver. Cell phones and radios are also a huge distraction for young drivers. If they take their eyes and attention off driving, they could esily cause a crash. You might have been expecting me to say accident, but our YOVASO leaders have taught us to call them crashes because they're not really accidents because they are preventable and predictable.

A lot of teens don't realize how easy it is to get into a crash and how serious it can be. One mistake could make you loose your life, or end someone else's life. I always try to remember that we loose 14 teens a day, 415 a month, and 5,000 a year to car crashes. There are so many distractions in a car, by eliminating a few you can save lives. Thanks for listening, but more importantly you need to Do your part! Drive Smart!!

Second grade Visit

Hey everybody! This is Morgan Thomas. I just wanted to take a minute to tell you about our elementary school visit just before spring break. We are lucky enough to have an elementary school right next door to our school and they were kind enough to allow us to visit and talk with the 2nd graders about safety. It was a ton of fun! I think it was really productive. All the kids participated and absolutely loved to raise their hands in hopes of being the one to tell us the right answer. Most of them raised their hands before we even asked a question. We talked to them about being safe in the car, asking them questions like "What is the very first thing to do when you get in a car?" The answer of course is "Put your seatbelt on!"

Check out the pics of Vince and Larry saying goodbye to the kids as they leave and getting goody bags from YOVASO members that had great stuff in them like coloring books, stickers, and tatoos all focused on safety.

We also reminded them about being safe while riding bikes, on the bus, and riding fourwheelers and skateboards. And they just love the Crash Dummies, Larry and Vince. Two of our YOVASO members dressed up in the costumes and gave the kids high fives as they left the presentation. One of the best moments is near the end of our little assembly when we asked the kids if they had anything they wanted to ask or tell us. One little girl told us that her aunt is not safe in the car and that she's worried about her little cousins because they never where their seatbelts. We told her that she could use the reminder cards in their goody bags to help teach her how important it is to be safe in the car. We can only hope that these remember what we taught them and can maybe help educate their siblings and parents so that we can all be a little safer.

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.