L’view students learn about driving safety

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Lincolnview High School students had the opportunity to learn about traffic safety during an event held Wednesday as part of Teen Safety Week, October 20-25. That’s an important subject for teens, since statistics show approximately three times as many teens have accidents, compared to the number of teen drivers on the road.

Teen driving safety is a focus for two state agencies, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio State Highway Patrol, as well as the American Auto Association (AAA).

“Nearly 30,000 teens have been involved in crashes in Ohio so far this year,” said ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks on Monday.

Wednesday’s event at Lincolnview featured a number of stations designed to provide information on one aspect of teen driver safety. Participating were the Van Wert County ODOT Garage, Van Wert Post of the Oho State Highway Patrol, and the Celina AAA office.

The stations provided the following information:

• A video on the dangers of distracted driving and not wearing a seat belt
• An outdoor walk-through roundabout simulation
• A simulator that tested students’ delay in braking while using their cell phones
• The opportunity to submit ideas for a safety message for display on Ohio’s highway message boards
• A driving safety quiz and map reading exercise
• A roundtable discussion with the OSHP
• An ODOT snowplow truck and a discussion about driving in snow and ice conditions, and how salt and brine make highways safer.

Wednesday’s teen safety event also included the following statistics:

• 5 percent of all drivers are teens, but they are involved in 15 percent of all crashes
• 60 percent of teens killed in vehicle crashes were not wearing a seat belt
• Nearly two-thirds of those killed in teen car crashes are someone other than the driver
• Nearly all teens polled say they uncomfortable speaking up when they don’t feel safe in a vehicle

Chris Hughes, deputy director for ODOT’s District 1, which includes Van Wert County, said Lincolnview’s teen safe driving event was a part of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s interest in promoting traffic safety for young drivers, while also noting that the Lincolnview stations were created to foster a greater interest in students for driving safely.

Several students were particularly surprised by how long it took (between 10 and 30 seconds) to respond to a traffic hazard while using their cell phones. Many of the students heard a crash sound because they didn’t respond quickly enough to avoid a crash.

Kelly Harbaum of the Celina AAA office said the station shows that the time it takes to look up from one’s phone can be critical when an accident is imminent.

Teens not only had trouble avoiding an “accident” while on their phones, but often missed the brake pedal completely when notified of a dangerous driving situation.