Evergreen Park Students Gear Up for Safe Driving

Students’ eyes were recently opened at the possible consequences of distracted driving.

Though we don’t think of it as a major concern, using a cell phone, texting, or changing music on an iPod while behind the wheel can cause the driver to drive at the ability of an adult at or over the legal limit of .08.

On Feb. 9, Operation Teen Safe Driving invited State Trooper Clare Pfotenhauer to share her own stories and lessons for the students at . She showed the video and audio footage of a fellow Illinois State Trooper who was hit by a distracted driver on Mar. 1, 2010, at 63^rd Street on the Dan Ryan Expressway. Though graphic and difficult to view, students were faced with the reality of what can happen on the road when not focused on the road. The trooper lived, she had to undergo nearly twenty surgeries to get her life back, all because one driver’s careless behavior—checking a text message.

At the end of the presentation, Pfotenhauer played the news story of how an accident can cause the death of friends and the destruction of families. To emphasize the point, the OTSD team walked on stage with their faces painted to resemble a lifeless façade symbolizing the teen victims of car accidents caused by distracted driving (masterfully done by John Vitiritti, an SFX makeup artist). These students spent the day in school as normal, but were asked to refrain from talking during the day. This allowed other students to get a taste of what it might be like to have someone missing in the classroom, lunch table, or hallway.

Operation Teen Safe Driving gave away wrist bands, thumb bands, pencils, and other trinkets in the following days and at the Pack the Place all in efforts to get teens to put down the cell phone when behind the wheel.

Students continued their safety efforts on Feb. 24 at the final boys basketball game of the regular season. Sponsored by Ford Motors and Allstate Insurance, students of Operation Teen Safe Driving promoted safe driving through some eye-opening events at the

All who entered were first greeted by OTSD members with pledges to quit driving while distracted. Those who signed the pledge were given pencils and wrist bands as reminders to not text and drive. During the breaks in the action of the basketball games OTSD members called down members of the audience to participate in various games on the court. These included making free throws while wearing fatal vision goggles, which simulate the vision one might have at the legal limit of intoxication, and driving bikes while trying to send a text message. Students heard alarming messages and statistics dealing with the fatalities involving teen drivers who choose to make bad choices while driving. The fans at the games were challenged to put down the cell phone while driving—Operation Teen Safe Driving hopes the message was heard loud and clear. 

Remember, DNT TXT N DRV.