S4SD competition encourages safety behind the wheel
Students have fun while learning how to be safer drivers
She’s only been driving for a short time but Samantha Smith knows you shouldn’t text and drive.
During Tuesday’s Traffic Safety Awareness Campaign hosted by Anchor Bay High School’s Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Club, the ninth-grader was shown why that’s important and how distractions can impact her driving.
“It was tricky. I had to make sure I didn’t run into anything,” said Smith, after taking the wheel of a simulator for a distracted driving exercise.
She took the turns shown on her screen, slowly. And avoided the deer.
She also refused to take a call, despite the simulator’s numerous pleas.
“It was cool,” Smith said of the driving exercise presented by McLaren Macomb Medical Center, which included a simulated course for drivers who get behind the wheel while intoxicated.
“It’s good because it gives them an opportunity to experience impaired driving without getting hurt or hurting anyone else,” said Dave Hankins, a registered nurse at McLaren, referring to the simulator and one of several activities HOSA Club created for this year’s Strive for a Safer
Dive (S4SD) Competition.
S4SD is a teen driving initiative aimed at reducing serious traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities among Michigan’s most inexperienced drivers — teens. It is presented by Ford Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) and the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP). Every year, 75 high schools are invited to be part of the competition, based on the plans they submit for a traffic safety awareness campaign.
Each school participating is awarded a $1,000 grant.
“It helps to cover the costs,” said Jennifer Dixon, HOSA Club advisor and medical education instructor for ABHS, of the supplies and equipment needed for the event.
That includes the Click-it or Ticket mascot costume that Donny Mulheron volunteered to put on for selfies with prideful students who wear their seatbelts.
The event held during all of the lunch hours also featured impaired goggles that students wore while trying to catch a ball and an egg station that challenged participants to complete an obstacle course without dropping/crashing their egg.
Giving the egg obstacle a try were Ben Grillo and Madison Stirrett.
“I figured I was going to go fast but I wasn’t successful,” said Stirrett, who dropped her egg several times, as did Grillo, before catching on to the point of the exercise. Once they slowed down and focussed, both reached the finish line successfully.
Grillo and Stirrett both agreed the event was a great idea. Stirrett was on her way to school once when another student hit her car while texting and driving.
“This is a great way to get the message across,” said Dixon. “They’re learning how to be a better
driver and a safe driver and they’re having fun while doing it.”
“When you’re having fun you seem to retain the information better,” Dixon added.