Eureka High School’s Drive 2 Stay Alive Program educated soon-to-be, new and experienced teen drivers about the dangers and realities of distracted and impaired driving. The target audience was the student body, staff, and administrators at Eureka High School, which is the largest high school in Humboldt County. In order to foster greater depth and meaning, our project focused on every academic department on campus. Drive 2 Stay Alive was part of a campus wide thematic unit to get the message across to not only the students but also to the staff at Eureka High School.
The Project Ignition team developed curriculum focused on teen driving safety for multiple academic departments and presentations were given in the following areas:
Math classes in which students developed graphs on local and nation-wide teen driving statistics to hang up on bulletin boards around our school and the community.
Health and Safety Classes learned about the effects of driving impaired or distracted through student-led presentations. Analysis and discussion of statistics and outcomes provided closure in each class.
History students participated in a student made jeopardy game and competed to see which student had the most knowledge about teen driving in California.
Graphic Communication students competed to design posters focused on safe driving which were displayed in various locations throughout the school and community. These posters were also entered in a county-wide safe driving competition.
School Board Members & Administration Meeting student presenters explained the project goals, local statistics related to teen driving, and ways in which Board members could support the project.
Athletics assembly for the basketball tournament featured a demonstration of the impact of drinking on motor skills by having the winners of the 3 point shoot out take another turn while wearing Fatal Vision goggles. The humorous outcome conveyed our message to the entire student body.
English classes were asked to reflect on a time when distracted or impaired driving resulted in an accident for them or a friend on a note card. These cards were placed on large posters that are on display in the main hallway reminding students of the personal impact of distracted driving.
Our message to our community is simply Drive 2 Stay Alive! While driving one should have “1” focus, and that is driving; “2” or more distractions or impairments while driving can potentially result in major consequences and none the less one is not “Driving 2 Stay Alive”.
The project gained significant attention from local media outlets, and over the course of the grant five articles were published in two county-wide daily newspapers. The team also participated in two live television interviews with KIEM News Channel 3 which resulted in two feature-length news stories that were broadcast on our local evening news.
We see our project as an ongoing effort that will extend throughout the school year and a number of elements are still in the works for the spring. The student team that coordinated this project is already working with the students who are coordinating the “Every 15 Minutes” car crash simulation to be held in the spring of 2009. Safe driving-related efforts will continue at our school after the conclusion of Project Ignition.
The project culminated in a 2-day driving simulation which included many community partners, including the local public health and police departments, driving school, school administration, the Eureka City Council, and the local media. Students and adults drove a closed course at the local drag strip and were able to see first hand the impact of driving under the influence and driving while distracted. The interactive simulation proved the dangers of driving while under the influence and/or distracted driving and received extensive media coverage throughout Humboldt County.