THE SAFE FOUNDATION VISITS ILAN HIGH SCHOOL TO DISCUSS DISTRACTED DRIVING

THE SAFE FOUNDATION PRESENTS AN ASSEMBLY ON DISTRACTED DRIVING

Written by Staff at The SAFE Foundation

        “Driving should be about driving,” Lieutenant of the Ocean Township Police Department Joe Pangaro told students at Ilan High School at an assembly presented by The SAFE Foundation titled “Distracted Driving”. “When you are behind the wheel and distracted by your phone, you are four times more likely to have an accident. The average car is a 2,000 pound hunk of steel. Is it correct to operate this machine when you are distracted by eating, putting on makeup, or tending to a cell phone? All it takes is one second to ruin lives.”  Pangaro continued, “Temptation is so much a part of our lives. We must learn to control ourselves. If this is difficult, put your phone in your trunk, shut it off, or make a rule for yourself that you will pull over if you need to tend to your phone.”

          When the Lieutenant was finished speaking, Shira Berkowitz, Director of Project SAFE presented a film. Speakers told how distracted driving was the cause of so much pain in their lives. A man cried as he spoke about how this led to the loss of his son. A real estate agent told how she used her car as her office, until one day that kind of behavior devastated her life. Someone driving while talking on her cell killed her mother. Now, in order to alert others, she has a bumper sticker on her car that says, “A DRIVER TALKING ON A CELL PHONE KILLED MY MOM.” 

At the end of the program, students were invited to sign a pledge that they would not text and drive. 

One Ilan student who tries not to use her cell phone a lot said, “I feel like my generation is so caught up with being continually distracted. I don’t want to be dependent on always being connected. Aside from wanting to be a responsible driver, I also think it is important to know how to be alone.”

Here are some things you can say if you are in the car with someone who is texting while driving:

*Here, let me do that for you.

*I heard that if you get caught using your cell phone while driving, it is a huge fine and points on your license. 

*Please don’t do that. I don’t feel safe.

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