LANSING, MI (WHTC) – Three high schools in an around the Lakeshore are among 50 statewide participating in a program aimed at making teenagers better and safer drivers.
Spring Lake, Mona Shores and South Haven high schools will have students participating in the Strive for a Safer Drive competitive effort. They will be submitting a video or PowerPoint presentation by March 31st, aimed at educating fellow classmates about distracted driving, seat belt use, speeding, underage drinking, impaired driving, winter driving and other motoring issues. The top five campaigns will earn cash prizes for their schools, ranging from 500 to 15 hundred dollars, with Sturgis winning the top award last spring. Students will also be given the opportunity to attend a free hands-on driving clinic given by professional driving instructors this spring.
Participating schools will each receive a thousand dollars to help defray the costs of developing these campaigns, coming from the Ford Driving Skills for Life program and Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning in this public-private partnership aimed at cutting down on traffic crashes, the leading cause of death for teens. In 2015, there were 84 fatalities and 477 serious injuries stemming from nearly 42 thousand wrecks involving a driver aged 15 through 19.
The Strive for a Safer Drive program was part of Governor Snyder’s Michigan Strategic Highway Safety Plan that was implemented four years ago.
