Activities to Promote Safe Driving

Traffic accidents kill young drivers and their passengers more than any other age group, partly because kids don't have the experience that older drivers have and also because kids do mindless things when they drive, sometimes due to peer pressure or just lack of awareness. Distractions such as cell phones, eating, grooming, talking, texting and fiddling with the radio can cause automobile crashes. Wearing seat belts can save lives in accidents. Driver education and practice make safe drivers. To promote safe driving at your high school or transportation business, plan safe-driving activities that call attention to these facts.

1. Pledges

   • According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), distracted-driving accidents killed 5,474 people and injured approximately 448,000 more in 2009. Encourage your employees or students to pledge that they won't drive while distracted. This means no text-messaging, talking on the phone, eating, grooming, watching videos or fiddling with maps, radios or friends while driving. You can focus your group's pledge around just one of these distractions, such as texting. Dedicate a wall or display case to your pledge, and personalize the pledges, giving urgency to those who make the pledge. When a new person takes the pledge, put her picture up in the case. Or have her sign her name to a car-shaped piece of paper and post it on a wall.

   Demolished Vehicle

   • Park a demolished vehicle in the parking lot of your business or school campus. Allow employees and students to see the dire consequences of unsafe driving behaviors such as drinking and driving, not paying attention to the road or driving at extreme speeds. To make sure drivers truly get the message about unsafe driving, invite a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to give a speech in front of the totaled vehicle about the importance of good decision-making and safe driving practices.

   Golf Cart Driving Course

   • Create a golf-cart driving course in a parking lot or on a campus using orange cones and handmade traffic signs. Workers or students can drive through the course, ensuring they observe all the traffic signs they encounter. To make the course more difficult, call or text the driver's cell phone. Pair them with partners who talk to them nonstop. Instruct them to read a map and drive at the same time. As drivers try to concentrate on the course -- and perhaps run over a few cones -- they will realize how dangerous these types of distractions are.

   Traffic Sign Game

   • Safe drivers know the meanings of and proper responses to all traffic signs that they encounter. Test drivers' knowledge with a traffic sign game. Construct a variety of homemade traffic signs, or blow up pictures of real road signs. Include simple signs such as stop, yield, one-way, railroad crossing, deer crossing and winding road. Hold up the sign and have people yell out the answer. Or, divide the drivers into two teams: One member of a team competes against a member of the other team to see who can identify each sign first.

Posted in: Safety Drive