Georgia state office trying to reduce teen driver fatalities
The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety awards Pepperell High School with a grant to boost the capabilities of its Students Against Destructive Decisions chapter.
Pepperell High School has received a $6,500 grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to enhance its Students Against Destructive Decisions chapter.
The grant receipt comes in as efforts continue to bring Georgia students into the conversation about reducing teen driver fatalities. Their input is seen as a way of counteracting this problem.
“This grant allows our chapter to continue to lead peer-topeer activities and events for all of our Rome-Floyd County community,” said Alana Ellenburg, Pepperell’s SADD advisor. “This grant’s financial award is vital to our success, however, the overall support that we receive from the GOHS is just as important.”
Vehicle wrecks are the leading cause of death for teens, who have a higher rate of being involved in fatal wrecks than adult and elderly drivers. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely than those over 20 to be in a fatal wreck. Male teen drivers are also twice as likely as female teen drivers to die in a wreck.
In Georgia, there were 173 fatal vehicle wrecks involving children under the age of 19 in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also in 2015, 2,333 teens in the United States ages 16 to 19 were killed in wrecks, the CDC reported. This national level means six teens in this age range died each day from injuries suffered in wrecks.
“Who better to address the challenges and dangers of teen driving than teens themselves?” said GOHS Director Harris Blackwood. “I’m confident these SADD students can convince their peers to be safer, more conscientious drivers.”
The Pepperell High SADD chapter has monthly student-led activities planned for the remainder of the school year, including the ninth annual “Just Drive” Safe Driving Expo in April. It will also put on a Teen Car Show in April, seat belt checks, and 21 or Bust activities.
“Each year the chapter talks about what makes an event a success and each year it is the same answer,” Ellenburg said. “If we can save a single life, we consider that a success.”
The nonprofit Safe Kids Georgia indicated driver inexperience is the No. 1 cause of teen wrecks. Driving at night or while drowsy, speeding, distractions, not wearing a seat belt and impaired driving are also contributing factors.
Information on the website for Teens in the Driver Seat, an initiative under the guidance of the Texas A&M University Transportation Institute, indicated for each American teen killed in a wreck, close to 100 more are injured. Of the total teen passenger deaths, the majority come from wrecks when another teen is driving.
The group also estimated the cost of fatal wrecks involving teens in the U.S. at $30 billion per year.
According to data compiled by Safe Kids Georgia, Teens in the Driver Seat, and the Georgia Department of Transportation, Floyd County, based on population, had the ninth most wrecks — 820 — in the state involving teen drivers ages 15 to 19 in 2016.
Pepperell’s SADD chapter will send four members of the executive council and one advisor to the statewide leadership-training program in February at Jekyll Island, joining representatives from other high schools that received similar grants.
For more information on how to obtain a SADD grant, call Eshon Poythress, with the GOHS, at 404-657-1955 or email epoythress@ gohs.ga.gov.