• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Health / Medicine / SADD uses teens to talk to teens about drunk driving

SADD uses teens to talk to teens about drunk driving

May 26, 2009 By admin

Teenagers might not listen to their parents when it comes to their bad driving habits, but they will listen to friends. That’s the basis for a new public service radio campaign from Students Against Destructive Decisions, now airing in Iowa. Stephen Wallace, chairman of SADD’s board of directors, says the campaign has an unusual, effective approach.

Wallace says, "This really focuses on young people who are riding in cars with teen drivers because research points out that eight out of ten teens say they would listen to their friends if they actually spoke up about careless driving behaviors." The PSA campaign is designed to encourage teens to speak up when they feel endangered by a friend’s reckless driving — from speeding to texting and other dangerous behavior.

For more than two decades, he says car crashes have been the number-one killer of teens in the United States. "We know from the statistics that teen passengers are at risk, more so than any other age group," Wallace says. "While teen drivers themselves say they often don’t worry about their own safety, they don’t have that as top of mind, they are very concerned about the safety of their passengers and certainly don’t want to be responsible for an injury or a death."

Nationwide, he says the figures are staggering — more than 300,000 teens are injured in car crashes each year, nearly 8,000 are involved in fatal crashes and more than 35-hundred are killed. Wallace says a study from 2007 found that 96 people were killed in Iowa in crashes involving young drivers, between the ages of 15 and 20.

Studies find young drivers are more likely to speed, run red lights, make illegal turns and die in an SUV rollover, while teen drivers are involved in more than five times as many fatal crashes as adults. The PSAs communicate a simple message to teens — if your friend is driving recklessly, say something.

In addition to being chair of the SADD board, Wallace is a school psychologist in Boston. SADD was formerly known as Students Against Driving Drunk. For more information on the ad campaign, visit: "www.SpeakUpOrElse.org". 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Health / Medicine, Human Interest Tagged With: Alcohol

Featured Stories

Governor signs Iowa Renewable Fuels Standard into law

Jury returns guilty verdict in shooting death of State Trooper

Summit has easements for 20% of carbon pipeline route through Iowa

Morel mushroom hunters on hold without warmer conditions

Trinity Health aquiring all MercyOne health properties

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa Special Olympics Summer games set to open in Ames

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association High School Poll 5/16/22

Iowa assistant coach Kirk Speraw to retire

Northern Iowa prepares for Missouri Valley Conference softball tournament

T.J. Otzelberger announces staff changes at Iowa State

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC