Safety Belt Campaign
high school traffic safety challenge update:
We won 1st Place for "Best Overall Percent of Back Seat-belt Usage"
Our Driver Education students are involved in a safe driving program in collaboration with Hackensack University Medical Center, State Farm Insurance, and the "U Got Brains" organization to raise awareness about the importance of wearing seat belts and empowering our future drivers to embrace safe driving habits. We are collaborating with dozens of local high schools in our area and many more across the state.
Our students conducted a safety belt check on October 7th with Mr. Attanasio, Mr. Camporeale, and a representative from Hackensack University Medical Center. We kept track of how many students were wearing seat belts in the front seat and in the back seat. We found that only 58% of students wore seat belts in the back of the car, and we decided to focus our attention on improving our performance in that category.
Our first seat belt check! Lots of people wondered what we were doing! We really were excited that so many students volunteered their time before school to collect the data.
Over the course of six weeks, we really focused on changing the behavior of the students that were not wearing seat belts in the back seat. Meliam Gonzalez from Hackensack University Medical Center came in to speak to all of our Driver Education classes about head trauma and the incredible difference between injuries incurred with or without seat belts. We then created over 50 posters to support our cause. Here are a few samples of our student work:
This is a small sample of some of our student generated posters. They did such a great job on these!
We made three morning announcements to help communicate with the students about our cause. The first announcement explained the results of our seat belt check and the goal to improve back seat belt use. The second two announcements shared statistics and eye opening facts about the dangers of not wearing a seat belt. For example, did you know that 56% of all teens involved in fatal crashes were unbuckled? How about this fact - studies show that wearing seat belts saves 12,000 lives per year! We also created a Twitter account (@wwrsd.HealthDE) to promote all the great things that are going on.
The next step was to share our posters with the high school community. We decided that we wanted to really make an impact and draw attention to our goal. So we had almost 50 students meet in the front of the building at 7:30 AM to share our posters with the high school community during morning drop off. Our students not only displayed the posters, but we thanked students for wearing seat belts when appropriate and gave gentle reminders to students that were not wearing seat belts. Our students were so excited to find that the reaction from the students, parents, administration and staff was so positive! We had a lot of support and a lot of positive energy, as you can see in the photos below:
It was cold, but we had fun while spreading the word!
Westwood students making a difference!
We also entered a T-shirt contest with the other schools in the program. We used Google Drawings to create our submissions to the contest. Then students learned how to create a live link from their Google Drawing and insert their T-shirt idea into a Google Slide presentation that allows users to scroll through all of our ideas at once. This is a not only a great way technology tool that they now can apply to other areas in education, but it is a terrific way for us to submit entries into the contest.
Wendy Berk from "U got Brains?" came to Mr. Attanasio's class and discussed many ways to promote safe driving in the school community. She also presented us with a check for $750!
For our efforts we were awarded a stipend of $750 to promote safe driving in our community by the "U Got Brains?" organization (http://www.ugotbrains.com/champion-schools). Wendy Berk came to our classes to discuss the program, present us with a promotional poster, a check for $750 to promote safe driving, and help us brainstorm together to plan what we might do with the money awarded by her foundation to continue to develop our campaign to promote safe driving.
On November 7th we again collected data to see how many students were wearing seat belts in the back seat. Obviously our goal was to have 100%, but we were very pleased that we increased back seat belt use from 58% to 84%, a 26% increase!
On December 7th we attended the Safe Driving Conference and Awards Luncheon at Hackensack University Medical Center. There were guest speakers that covered topics that included both seat belt use but distracted driving and speeding as well. It was at this luncheon that we learned that we won first place for "Best Overall Percent of Back Seat-belt Usage". We were presented a plaque, a banner, and a $300 check to promote safe driving!
Above left: A group shot with the three schools that were recognized for improved back seat belt usage.
Above right: Ready to learn! Here are some of our students at the conference.
Above left: A guest speaker from the Bergen County Sheriff Department discusses reaction time and distractions impact on car crashes. He shared some really powerful stories of his experiences
Above right: Great group shot of all students that attended the conference!
On January 18th and 19th our entire sophomore class was treated to visit from the JustDrive organization. JustDrive is a NJ MVC sponsored organization that educates future drivers and promotes safe driving habits. The focus on these presentations was distracted driving. Presenters included a traffic safety police officer and JustDrive associates. We were also honored to have Raymond P. Martinez, the Chairmanand Chief Administrator of NJ MVC as a guest speaker!
JustDrive Program: Above left, Chief Administrator Martinez leads discussions about distracted driving. Above middle, a traffic safety officer shares his experiences with students. Above right, some of the promotional items that we given to students.
We also are proud that our Driver Education activities make direct connections to the following goals outlined in the district Strategic Plan:
- Goal #3 that focuses on a “progressive curriculum” and “real world experiences” https://sites.google.com/wwrsd.org/strategicplan/goal-3
- Goal #4 that emphasizes a need to “Create an inclusive environment that promotes social awareness and responsibility.” https://sites.google.com/wwrsd.org/strategicplan/goal-4
We have made great strides in the first year in the program, and we expect to grow and increase our involvement in the program each year!