Defensive Driving 101

Our most vivid memories result from attachments to strong emotion, and the night when I was driving home from a track meet is one that I will never forget. Lights were flashing outside my development, police and firemen were swarming everywhere, forcing cars to turn around. In the twelve miles I drove to circumvent the accident I remember my cell phone chirping non-stop. It wasn't until I pulled over that I learned that those all those lights were flashing because a boy we went to school with was killed in car crash. Later we found out that while driving his new car he just got for Christmas, he had lost control going over sixty mph. The community was paralyzed by the loss of someone so young and through the last months have worked together to put together a program to rectify and prevent future tragedies. So many teens begin driving without much knowledge of the road aside from what booklets teach them about rules and regulations, which are often disregarded after the first several weeks. Courses that teach students about defensive driving and how to be safe drivers are highly effective, but also come with a high price tag. 400 dollars is often a sum of money that teens cannot afford to spend, or would want to spend, on their driving education, and in many cases parents cannot afford these classes either. So the proposal that many of our community members are working on now involves fund raising so that our school can provide student who wish can take these courses and learn how to drive safely. In efforts to raise the money to fund this project, there are several fund raisers that are working for this cause. Baseball tournaments, a car wash, t-shirt sales, and an impending Carnival in a few weeks should help raise over 20,000 dollars to get this program started and pay for the first fifty or so students to take the course. As an Eagle Scout and a member of several community service clubs in my school, I am volunteering my time at the "Carnival for a Cause" which will also do a lot to raise awareness in my community about teen driving and how you need to be safe. Teens will see the fliers around town for all these events and see the importance of driving safe. I'm also going to solicit local businesses for donations to support this upcoming event. This proposal will raise awareness about the dangers of driving to teens, and constructively educate them on how to make better decisions behind the wheel.