Honoring Global Youth Traffic Safety Month

The most effective way to teach a teenager might just be through other teenagers, at least that’s what the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Mazda Motorsports, the Ad Council and the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) believe.

In honor of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month, the aforementioned organizations held a nationwide contest called Project Yellow Light that honors the college and high school student who creates the best short video exhibiting the dangers of distracted drivers. The goal of this competition: to enlighten other teens of the fatal dangers that can result due to distracted driving and do so through the voices and minds of other teens.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood reacts to the national epidemic of Distracted driving, which has had the highest impact on teens, saying, “we know that young drivers listen to their friends, which makes the Project Yellow Light ads so powerful. Today’s scholarship winners have helped raise awareness of the dangers of texting while driving, and are potentially saving the lives of other teen drivers as well.”

The winners of this contest are awarded with college scholarships, airtime with more than 1,500 TV stations nationwide, and a One-Day Teen Survival Skills Class at the Skip Barber Racing School. Director of Mazda Motorsports, John Doonan, says the opportunity to be a part of Project Yellow Light was an honor and that “everyone at Mazda was impressed with both the quality and quantity of entries.”

The trend among the contributing organizations was simple, the more we can educate the youth, the less of a problem distracted driving is. This fact hold extra meaning when considering the alarming report that of all fatal accidents in 2011 involving drivers between the age of 15-19, eleven percent of them involved some aspect of distracted driving at the time.

Sandy Spavone of NOYS sums it up best when she says, “The quality of the messages developed by youth and their work to prevent distracted driving is inspirational; together they lead their generation to put the phone down when driving.”

Do not contribute to the tragedy causing act of distracted driving and put those cell phones away while driving. Set an example for your children and peers and eliminate the temptation to take your eyes off the road.

However, even with you paying more attention while driving, it is sometimes the fault of some other party of why the accident has occurred and injury sustained. In such incidents, having an experienced accident attorney by your side can aid in not only the financial stability of your life, but a healthy, full recovery as well. Take precautions and contact a respected attorney now.