November 11, 2015 - Students at Timpson High School are working to create awareness about seat belt use by participating in Teens in the Driver Seat’s “Zero Crazy”, a program sponsored by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
Although seat belts save over 13,000 lives each year, 16-24 year olds have the lowest usage rate. By creating awareness about the importance of using seat belts, through Zero Crazy, students at Timpson High School hope to change that. Sophomore team member Nathan Barr explains, “Seat belts save lives. It’s crazy to choose not to wear one.”
Zero Crazy is a student run, hands-on program that helps inspire learning in schools. Members of the Teens in the Driver Seat program first observed and recorded seat belt use around T.I.S.D. They found that 19% of observed drivers were not wearing their seat belts. After gathering the data, students conducted activities to show how important it is to buckle up. Activities throughout the month of October included posting seat belt safety messages on student lockers and distributing seat belt safety messages to the home and visiting fans at a football game.
These demonstrations and activities involve the student body, so that everyone can understand how important it is to wear a seat belt. After the activities, students once more made observations to see if they were able to change some bad driving habits. According to their observation, they were successful in increasing seat belt use by 7%.
“Our team is really excited about Teens in the Driver Seat and Zero Crazy that are both designed to educate teenagers about the dangers involved with driving,” says team member Ashlyn Broadway.
The Timpson High School Teens in the Driver Seat team includes: Nathan Barr, Ashlyn Broadway, Ashton Cheshire, Samiracle Gentry, Demarcus Gossett, Zach Jones, Dakota Watts, and Destiny Yarbrough.
