CHELSEA, Okla. — It’s National Teen Driver Safety Week, and in light of several recent tragic crashes involving teens here in Oklahoma, local groups are stepping up their education efforts.
On Tuesday, the leaders at Chelsea High School wanted to make it as clear as possible just how powerful and dangerous it can be behind the wheel of a car
“What we have found is that the teens are the solution,” said Linda Terrell, Project Director of the Oklahoma Challenge.
A solution, Terrell said, to the ongoing and growing problem of distracted and unsafe driving.
“They can actually change the future,” she said.
Her group, the Oklahoma Challenge, travels to schools across the state to demonstrate the realities of what distracted and unsafe driving can cause.
In Chelsea, they brought out vehicles involved in deadly crashes, GRDA brought boats for boater safety lessons, they even had a drunk driving simulator.
Walmart even brought a full-sized semi truck to let teens sit inside and get a better understand of the blind spots truck drivers have.
“If we can save one child’s life, then we’ve done our jobs,” said Pam Phillips, the Native American Student Association advisor at Chelsea High School.
Teachers and administrators say the issue is all to real in Chelsea.
“We’ve lost students in traffic accidents around here,” teacher Kate Beck said.
In light of the recent crashes in Tishomingo, where six high schoolers were killed, and in Sand Springs were three were killed—all during lunch breaks—safety experts like Terrell have some suggestions for schools as well.
“I think there’s some lessons that we can learn to try to help students not feel like they have to rush back,” Terrell said.
She said many schools have ‘no-cell phone’ policies, not allowing students to look at phones throughout their day at school. She says that may cause students to try to “catch up” on what they’ve missed while driving home, rather than paying attention to the road.
“Could there be a possible ten minutes prior to lunch, prior to the end of school where you can turn that phone back on and get all of those messages and social media posts done before they walk out to the parking lot,” she said.
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