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September 9, 2015
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Choosing to drive without distractions or under the influence is a key component of the South Central Regional Safety Coalition’s mission and the group is reaching out to young drivers through an educational contest in an effort to encourage safer behind-the-wheel practices.
The “Capturing Safety Through The Lens” contest, in its third year, encourages high school clubs and organizations from Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist and Terrebonne parishes to submit photos or videos depicting safety in regard to texting, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and seat belt usage.
Louisiana State Trooper Evan Harrell, who also serves as the coalition’s Young Driver Team leader, said focusing on the younger driving population instills better habits early on, hopefully decreasing the number of incidents that occur each year.
“The more that we can spread this message around, the better for everyone,” Harrell said. “When you talk about our target audience, which are teenagers, this is when they are at the age when they are just getting their drivers’ licenses. We want to try to create good habits at an early age rather than when they get older and trying to change bad habits that they may have had for 10 or 15 years … We can actually institute all these good ideas and safe driving habits before they learn the wrong way.”
Although laws are in place to keep young drivers safe, the statistics for the age group show that bad habits are still very much a concern.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in its 2011 “Traffic Safety Facts” reported that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens with about a quarter of those crashes involving an underage drunk driver.
According to research conducted by the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York determined texting while driving was four times more common among American high school students than driving while under the influence of alcohol.
“Distracted driving is one of the key emphasis areas these days because, in general, the amount of cell phones and the amount of things that we try to do in our daily lives,” Harrell said. “[Technology] is something that is incorporated into our lives now. It’s not going anywhere, so we need to learn to be responsible drivers. That’s what we need to teach the kids that are just now getting their driver’s license and say, ‘You have the technology. You grew up with the technology. You need to learn to be responsible with it.’ It’s an age bracket that’s so used to when they hear that chime on that phone, they’re grabbing it.”
Cassie Parker, regional safety coordinator for the coalition, said the push to get peers talking to each other about these important topics is key to the contest’s success, spreading the message of safe driving through the same age group the coalition targets.
“It’s a great program and the students really enjoy it,” Parker said. “Peer-to-peer – that’s the best way it works. We really try to encourage that peer-to-peer discussion.”
Harrell said because law enforcement can’t be everywhere all the time, teens both behind the wheel and in the passenger seat play a vital role in preventing potentially dangerous situations on the road.
“When they have that peer guidance from somebody already in their car or someone they are friends with and they pick up their phone to text, their friend can say, ‘Hey, don’t do that,’” he explained. “That’s actually going to sink in better than an instructor or an officer trying to educate them or somebody pulling them over to give them a ticket.”
The South Central Regional Safety Coalition is one of nine Louisiana regional organizations that implements the Louisiana Strategic Highway Safety Plan, developed with the goal of reducing roadway fatalities and injuries by 50 percent by 2030. Based on data from the state, the coalition puts major emphasis on the issues most prevalent in the area, including roadway departure, impaired driving, occupant protection, young drivers and vulnerable road users, like pedestrians and bicyclists. Parker said Shell and State Farm help fund all of the young driver programs, which also includes hosting seat belt initiatives at local high schools that reward students wearing the safety device while driving.
Submissions for the “Capturing Safety Through the Lens” contest are being accepted
through Nov. 16 and will be judged by coalition partners on Nov. 19. Winners
will be awarded with trophies, recognition and cash prizes at an awards ceremony to be held at a later date.
Submission details are available at scpdc.org.
