Our North American CORE Group Representative Ms Jennifer Heatley gave us an update of the latest goings on in North America with regards to youth and road safety action. In her growing network of North American road safety organization, one school involved in NOYS’ Act Out Loud programme submitted an article to inform the rest of us on road safety action taking place in the region!
Did you know that summer is the deadliest season for teen drivers? In July 2010 alone, we lost 364 youth ages 15-20 in traffic crashes. Statistics like these are devastating and eye opening. It’s apparent that teen motor vehicle crashes is an epidemic that needs to be addressed. Luckily, organizations like National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) are working with teens towards a solution. To encourage youth to gather together and be safe on the roads this summer, NOYS launched programs to encourage teens to “Act Out Loud for the Safest Summer Ever” with the support of Bridgestone and The Allstate Foundation.
A Business Professionals of America (BPA) chapter at John A. Dubiski Career High School, an energetic student-led team located in Grand Prairie, TX, showed their activism and support for youth traffic safety by participating in Act Out Loud, a teen traffic safety competition that gives high schools the opportunity to spread awareness, help change behavior, and work to decrease traffic fatalities and injuries through peer-led youth traffic safety activities and compete for prizes totaling more than $90,000.
Dubiski also participated in Act Out Loud for the Safest Summer Ever school rally program, where they were chosen as one of seven high schools around the nation to lead teen driver safety rallies on May 8, 2012. The school received toolkits and a stipend to assist them in implementing the traffic safety activities for these programs.
A t-shirt design from Dubiski Career High School.
For the Act Out Loud contest, BPA Dubiski completed three activities: a SAFE-TEE Shirt Design Contest, a Creative Sign Contest, and a Facebook Yearbook Application. The school successfully completed all three activities and was chosen from more than 300 schools to receive a Judges Choice Award in the amount of $2,000.
BPA Dubiski created a fantastic plan for the school rally event and worked with community leaders to get businesses and organizations, including AT&T, HOSA, the student council and local city government, involved in the school’s efforts. The team worked hard to promote the rally, including promotion at a workshop at the National BPA Conference in Chicago. Their rally activities included pledge booths, food booths, impaired driving demonstrations, texting and driving, Click It or Ticket campaigns, and informational booths sponsored by Texas Trust, insurance companies, and automotive companies. Police motorcycles, fire trucks, and ambulances were all displayed at the event. Over 1,500 students attended the rally and over 3,000 pledges were signed to have the Safest Summer Ever. BPA Dubiski developed an exciting video that captured highlights of the school rally. Dubiski is one example if the hundreds of youth-led activities.
For more information or to get involved in NOYS programs for 2013 Global Youth Traffic Safety Month, visit www.noys.org or send an email to info@noys.org.