Teens Creating Campaign to Promote Safe Teen Driving

An increasing number of teenagers are not wearing their seat belts, are speeding, or -- the new culprit -- texting while driving. That's according to Wisconsin's Bureau of Transportation Safety.

Now a program is being created to fix that -- and it starts with the drivers at the root of the problem.

Watch teenagers drive and you probably think the "Wear your seat belt, don't text while driving" message that adults send isn't sinking in. Neither are the statistics which say traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for 16- to 20-year-olds.

"Seeing students I now see on a daily basis doing poor driving techniques, not wearing their seat belt, texting while they're driving, it's very concerning to me," said Officer Jody Lemmens, Howard-Suamico school resource officer.

And it's why the state Department of Transportation, Children's Hospital, and Ford Motor Company are teaming up to lead a new campaign called Driving Skills for Life.

"I do as much as I can when I talk to kids in classrooms to promote seat belt use and let them know, share with them my experiences, but sometimes it just doesn't always get the message across," Lemmens said.

But now they might get it. Bay Port High School, Seymour, and Iola-Scandinavia are three of only eleven schools statewide chosen to create multimedia ad campaigns -- run by students for students.

Two Bay Port students in the project say it will take more than a traditional TV or radio public service announcement to get teen drivers to be more careful.

"I get to see a lot of drivers out even in our own parking lot here and it opens my eyes to how, I guess, serious driving really is and how a lot of people take it for granted," senior Scott Becker says.

Becker and Bay Port schoolmate Michelle Kelly are creative, ambitious students with a mission -- to make their classmates safer drivers.

Kelly, a junior, knows firsthand the dangers teen drivers can face.

"My vehicle rolled off of Highway 29. It was actually last December.," she recalled. "Everyone in the vehicle was wearing their seat belts."

But she and Becker say they see too many other students leaving school without wearing them.

"The accident changed my life, and I'm hoping that with this program I can help out other students," Kelly said.

Officer Lemmens recruited these two to lead the Driving Skills for Life campaign.

"If they have a peer who was involved in a crash and that peer then says, 'Oh, I wore my seat belt and it saved my life,' that seems to make a difference for them, they take it more to heart than they do sometimes hearing something from an adult because they tend to think, 'Oh, what do you know, you weren't a kid but 100 years ago,' and we just don't seem to carry the weight that their peers do," Lemmens said.

These students have some creative ideas that many adults wouldn't think of. Their idea is an interactive computer game.

"Looking for more fun things to do, not just having to sit and listen or watch something that is kind of dry, I guess, is the way to put it, get more interactive with it, so they fid more enjoyment out of it while still learning," Becker said.

They could also create text-message chains, podcasts, or Web sites -- all with the idea that a message created by their peers might register a little better.

"I think it's easier for teen drivers to relate to us because we are teenagers, and if we've had experience with it, we'll definitely make an impact," Kelly said.

Each school has until May 2nd to complete its ad campaign.