Safe Communities ramps up fun for safety’s sake
A group of Triway students tries to complete a simple 24-piece puzzle in two minutes during the Safe Communities challenge. This group, along with the majority of the quartets from schools throughout the Wayne-Holmes region, couldn’t complete the task, mainly because of the OVI goggles that made everything appear hazy and out of whack.
Throughout the final few weeks of school, the members of Wayne Holmes Safe Communities journeyed to the parking lots of local high schools in hopes of creating some fun while conveying the message that the only way to drive is the safe way.
Students at Smithville, Dalton, Waynedale, West Holmes, Norwayne, Northwestern, Wooster, Triway and Hiland participated in Safe Communities’ Safe Driving Games.
Safe Communities presents a short informational test to the students prior to their participation in the games and follows up with a post-game test to see what they’ve learned. The challenge is timed and includes four students starting in a patrol car with seat belts buckled. They must then unbuckle, get out and spin a wheel to answer a question correctly before moving on to the OVI goggle table, wearing glasses that emulate what it’s like to be in an inebriated state, where they were asked to put together a simple 24-piece children’s puzzle.
However, with the OVI goggles on, that task proved to be extremely difficult with very few teams finishing the puzzle in the two-minute time provided.
Then it was off to another task, where one member texted while volunteers asked them questions to throw them off their game. The other three had to receive and reply to the message before the team finally darted into another waiting patrol car, where they buckled up to finish the challenge.
The students also participated in an obstacle course in which they tried to steer a pedal go-kart around a series of orange cones while wearing the OVI glasses.
“That felt very strange,” Triway student Caden Speicher said. “When I got out of the car, I felt I couldn’t walk right. It’s confusing, and it seems like it really drives home the point of what it’s like to be drunk and trying to drive.”
However, while fun was on the agenda, so too was the important message the group hopes to hammer home of being safe, responsible drivers who don’t let anything distract them from the task at hand.
After all, as the coalition members say, they want everyone arriving home at night safe and sound.
“This message is incredibly important, and it has to be repetitive,” said Stephanie Norman, retired member of the Wooster Ohio State Patrol and Safe Communities member. “We have to keep hammering this message in, and it’s not just to our young people but to anyone who drives. As long as we’re doing this and we’re reaching somebody, even if it’s a handful of kids, that makes it worth the effort.”
Norman said moving from school to school helps promote everything Safe Communities is trying to promote, and they have gotten tremendous participation from the schools in their effort.
The effort also included a team of volunteers from Western Reserve Group, a company that deals with insuring countless young drivers annually.
Western Reserve Group representative Chantel Meshew said the company enjoys participating in these types of events because they would rather educate now rather than make some teenage driver’s insurance skyrocket because of a real-world accident.
“Promoting safe driving and healthy driving habits is important because it is going to be better for your health and your insurance rates in the long run,” Meshew said. “Statistics show that teens are very involved with texting and driving. Teen rates are already high, but an accident can cause rates to skyrocket.”
She said while this event revolves around teens, adults are almost as guilty of distracted driving, so the message is important for all ages.
Also included in the Safe Communities challenge were members of Anazao, the sheriff departments from both Wayne and Holmes counties, Ohio State Patrol and each of the various town’s local police departments, and the Wayne County Coroner’s Office, all of whom donate their time to the effort.
Beth McCready, chair of Safe Communities, said the organization has been doing this program for nearly one decade, and it has provided plenty of opportunity to share the message the group hopes to promote.
“We’ve always thought the kids have learned something throughout the course over the years, but our pre- and post-testing this year has proven that they are picking up some key points that they weren’t aware of coming into the challenge,” McCready said. “The more they can learn here having fun while experiencing a time of learning about committing to safe driving tactics, the lesser chances are that they will be distracted out on the road.”
With young and inexperienced teenage drivers often traveling together, distracted driving is now on par with drunk driving in terms of creating dangerous driving situations. That includes drivers being distracted by others in the car, their music, sleepiness and especially social media devices.
“Anything that takes your eyes off the road for even a split second is dangerous, and any time you’re impaired it is going to drastically affect your reaction time,” McCready said. “How many things can happen in a split second that can change lives forever?”
McCready said anyone on the road should adhere to safe driving tactics out of respect for everyone else on the road, and it takes little effort to obey traffic laws and pay attention when behind the wheel. She said there will be time to text and have fun once drivers and groups arrive at their destination.
She said these are the lessons that are fun when learned in a controlled and safe environment like the Safe Communities challenge, but when they’re learned the hard way in the real world, consequences can be dire and even deadly.