But for the parents of that teenager, even the most trusting among them, anxiety is often the emotion that clouds all others.
Warnings are plastered in plain view from fliers on school bulletin boards to public service announcements on TV urging new drivers to make the best decisions regarding their safety on the road.
Parents and members of the Rome and Floyd County community are encouraged to attend a free presentation on safe teen driving at Darlington School on Jan. 22.
Lauren Winborne, founder of the nonprofit organization SteerSmart, will speak to students in grades 8-12 about the topic of teen driving at 2 p.m. in the Huffman Athletic Center.
“Because teen driving fatalities are usually caused by inexperience and unsafe driving habits, SteerSmart seeks to educate parents as well as teens. We hope those parents who are able to will join us for this presentation,” said Jill Pate, director of personal counseling. “Car crashes are the number one cause of fatality among teenage drivers, and this program walks through and dissects the anatomy of specific crashes that resulted in fatalities or severely injured youth.”
Pate said the program will depict examples of severe crashes that happened as a result of speeding, texting, driving with too many passengers, alcohol and drugs, driving without wearing seatbelts, intersection awareness, over correcting, weather related problems and more. The program will offer safe driving tips and solutions for teens who are ready to take on the road.
Winborne, a mother of six, founded SteerSmart to encourage schools, associations and communities to help prevent wrecks that take lives and leave survivors impaired for life. The programs she developed arose out of research and interviews with parents who had lost their children to wrecks.
According to the organization’s website, presentations focus on decisions and consequences of decisions made by young drivers.
Whether a youth is a driver or a passenger, he or she will learn that there are ramifications for every decision made behind the wheel. Students learn from their peers in the program who have been killed by making just one fatal decision. They also learn from victims who survived crashes but are wheelchair bound because of decisions made just before their crashes.
“The program emphasizes that all students start their day virtually in the same way,” Winborne said. “No one begins their day by thinking, ‘I could die this afternoon.’ The myth that all kids who get killed or injured in these crashes are wasted kids at 1 a.m. is also dispelled.
“The program shows victims from all walks of life, types of towns, socioeconomic statuses, public and private schools as well as married, divorced and troubled homes,” she continued. “We talk about athletes, musicians, artists, actors and scholars, encompassing the eclectic background of those affected by crashes. Car crashes do not discriminate.”
The SteerSmart program has been delivered in all types of venues to all kinds of audiences. For more information about the program, visit www.steersmart.org. For information about the driving expo, contact Tannika Wester at twester@darlingtonschool.org.
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