Midtown’s Impact Teen Drivers Club (ITD) leaders are preparing a 30-second PSA promoting safe driving, to enter a national video contest and win a share of $27,000.
“[The] Impact Teen Drivers [organization] wants to try to reach kids throughout the U.S. with videos created by their peers,” club sponsor, Mary Van Atta said. “They believe young people have a lot of great ideas and a way of speaking to their peers that will make them listen.”
The video can either be a positive solution or strategy to end reckless and distracted driving, or a way for roadway users to stay safe.
“Our video specifically is going to be targeting the topic of how passengers can help make the car a safer place and how they can avoid being a distraction to the driver,” club member and senior Cameron Doherty said.
The club is promoting a movement designed to teach student drivers, pedestrians and the immediate community how to be safe drivers.
“We help students learn how to be safer drivers,” Van Atta said. “We promote it through flyers around the school that remind students to drive safely, and incentives for safe drivers–giving them treats like smarties for a seatbelt.”
Van Atta believes that this contest will allow ITD to spread its message to a wider audience, outside of its current reach.
“We can only really reach students at our school, people in our immediate community and maybe some other local schools,” Van Atta said. “We’ve gotten really creative and we have a lot of students who have meaningful things to say, people nationwide can see our PSA, so it will really help to spread the message.”
The video is completely student-made, so the club members are combining different ideas to make one cohesive video.
“We first have to make the script so we’ve had some brainstorming and writing sessions,” club vice-president, Wavey Hodge said. “Then, a group is going to film it. Lastly, they’ll pass it off to another group to edit it.”
According to the Impact Teen Drivers organization, the risk of a car crash doubles with two passengers under 21 years of age and quadruples with three or more.
“I want the people who watch this video to walk away with a greater understanding of passenger safety in a car and a general mindfulness towards distracted driving,” Doherty said.
Though still small, the club has a core group of committed members, who continue to promote their mission. Van Atta said club members strive to create an environment where students feel safe on the roads and know how to keep themselves safe.
“The club is an offshoot of 21st Century Leaders, so it was promoted through there and more students got interested through our health class presentations and by hearing about it through word of mouth,” Van Atta said.
If Midtown wins the contest, the money won will allow them to do events such as an impaired driving workshop that they have done in the past.
“Being able to help create the informational video for competition gives us a chance to reach more teens and possibly win money to help us be more active as a club at our school,” Doherty said.
Hodge said that they will target their young audience by intertwining humor with the important message the club members are trying to spread.
“We are passionate about helping others, keeping drivers, pedestrians and passengers safe,” Hodge said. “The video shows our dedication to reaching a larger amount of people.”
For the students involved, being in Impact Teen Drivers and the process of making this video has been a meaningful experience and has empowered them to continue to inform others about safe driving practices.
“It’s been so great to be a part of Impact Teen Drivers,” Doherty said. “It’s important to me that our age group is given the tools, information and power to make the right decisions. That is what the club is all about.”
