How can teenagers get a potentially lifesaving message out to their friends and make some extra cash? One great way is to create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the importance of safe driving.

Thanks to an initiative started by Tracy Porter, Founder and Executive Director of Mothers Against Brain Injury, Inc. (MABII) and a partnership between the Allstate Foundation, teens from high schools in four counties in Northeast Florida have the opportunity to enter a contest to create a short video promoting the importance of safe driving and win a grand prize of $4,000 for the student creators and $4000 for their school in TV production equipment and computers. Not only that, the winning PSA will be shown on TV throughout the month of May. There are also runner-up prizes of $2000 and $1000 for the student creators and for their school in TV production equipment and computers. The prize money has been made available through a grant from the Allstate Foundation making this its fourth consecutive year of doing so. The deadline to enter is 9pm on April 19, 2011.


So which driving subject should you focus on? You can choose any one, a combination of a couple or all of these critical issues related to driving: speeding, seatbelts, teen passengers, cell phone talking /texting, or any other distractions. The message should be 20 seconds; short, simple to understand, directed to other teens, and thought provoking. This contest encourages teens to research the facts on teen driving safety, observe how teens drive and be decide what would be the best and most creative way to ignite a change of unsafe driving practices.

When it comes to judging, a panel of teens will assess which of the PSA's would most likely make them seriously consider changing their own driving habits when they drive or when they ride with another teen.

What makes this project so great is that it's about friends telling friends the facts with their own voice, in their own environment and in their own way. Unsafe driving and distractions do not have to be the norm. So many teens see themselves as great drivers, but their friends don't always agree. Tracy Porter, Founder of MABII says, "In the last four years of hosting this PSA contest, I have learned something surprising from teenagers; they are less fearful of death as a consequence of unsafe driving practices than they are of being hurt, noticeably scarred, changed physically, being responsible for hurting a friend, or family member. This is information that should be used to help educate and empower teens to create a message targeting their own demographic."

By changing the culture of what is acceptable among teen friends, lives can be saved and many tragedies avoided. All it takes are people to speak up and their voices to be heard. Driving safety is everyone’s business.

Learn more about the Allstate Foundation's Teen Safe Driver Grant.

To learn more about Mothers Against Brain Injury Inc., visit www.mabii.org

Labels: distracted driving, mabii, mothers against brain injury, psa contest, teen driver, teen driver safety

This week is the National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct 17-23) and since it has been established by Congress 3 years ago, this time of the year is dedicated to helping teen drivers understand the responsibility that comes with driving. Each year, the leading cause for unnecessary teen deaths is vehicular accidents, and it’s good to know that the Congress is doing something about it.

This year’s theme, which is appropriate --- is distraction. That is, ending distractions on the road for teen drivers. Distracted driving is the number 1 reason why new drivers end up in needless accidents. To help spread the message of stopping distracted driving, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, along with State Farm Insurance have teamed up to present the “Park the phone. Drive.” (or the NNID) PSA.

Some ways to help spread the message on teen driving safety is to share the PSA through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites or find ways to get it shown to a local community.



Another way is by initiating a “Ride Like A Friend. Drive Like You Care.” (RLAF) campaign in your school. It is a campaign designed to teach safe teen passenger and driver behavior. Its main goal is for small groups of teens to start informing their fellow teens about teen driving safety and ultimately making press coverage. All of the information and materials needed are available for FREE at the RLAF site. (http://www.ridelikeafriend.org/)

The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has a message for all teen drivers: “Keep your hands on the wheel, your eyes on the road, and both (hands and eyes) away from your cell phone while driving.” They have even outlined a specific strategy to combat unsafe teen driving behaviors:

• 1. Increase seat belt use.


• 2. Reduce teens’ access to alcohol.


• 3. Implement graduated licensing program by state.

These steps can be adopted by local driving safety advocates for them to teach parents, educators and teen drivers that accidents can be prevented by safe driving practices.

Lastly, one of the best options is to start from home: if there are teen drivers in the family, this may be the best week to review driving safety habits not just for the teens, but also for all drivers in the family.

Labels: banning texting, florida gdl laws, gdl laws, Graduated Driver Licensing, teen driver safety, texting and driving