More schools to take part in safe driving program
More than 45,000 students at 44 Michigan high schools will soon benefit from efforts to make teenagers better, safer drivers.
Strive For a Safer Drive (S4SD) is a public-private partnership between Ford Driving Skills for Life and the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning that seeks to reduce the leading cause of death for teens: traffic crashes. In 2014, there were 40,865 crashes in Michigan with a driver age 15-19. Those crashes resulted in 69 fatalities and 479 serious injuries.
As part of the S4SD program, schools receive up to $1,000 for students to create teen-led traffic safety campaigns to educate their fellow classmates about distracted driving, seat belt use, speeding, underage drinking/impaired driving or winter driving.
The S4SD schools for the 2015-2016 school year include Midland Public Schools in Midland County.
Schools will submit a video or PowerPoint outlining campaign activities. The top five campaigns will be selected and those winning schools will win a cash prize ranging from $500-$1,500. Following their activities, schools will have the opportunity to send students to a free hands-on driving clinic with professional driving instructors in the spring. A video about the driving clinic is on the S4SD website, Michigan.gov/s4sd.
This project is part of Michigan’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2013.