Share the Keys Program Coming to Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District

A new program designed to keep younger drivers safe will be coming to Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District.

Students from Cedar Creek High School, located in Egg Harbor City, were among those to partake in a workshop Monday, Jan. 9 at the Northfield Municipal Building to become teen ambassadors.

The workshop is in response to an earlier Share the Keys workshop the Northfield Police Department held Sept. 20, 2011, to teach parents to have a conversation before their teenager takes the keys. This program was created in wake of the August 2011 crash that took the lives of four Mainland Regional High School football players.

Northfield Police Captain Art Faden said many other communities contacted him about holding similar programs after they heard about the Sept. 20 workshop. The department, working with the New Jersey Division of Highway Safety and Kean College, came up with this program where students, called teen ambassadors, are paired with traffic practitioners. They work with them, and are then sent back to their respective school districts to conduct Share the Key program within their communities.

Students from Mainland Regional, Pleasantville, Piscataway, Cherry Hill and Greater Egg Regional (specifically Cedar Creek) participated in the first ever workshop on Monday.

"We're trying to save lives through this program," Faden said. "That alone is a great tool but it can't do it alone.

“It needs to be taken into the community and shared, and what better way of doing that but to have teenagers speak to their peers about the dangers of not obeying the speed limit, being distracted by a ringing telephone, texting, etc.?”

As teen ambassadors, the high school students are provided with everything  they need to know in order to conduct the program in their respective communities. They are also walked through a slide presentation in addition to watching a 90-minute film.

The students said they've learned much going through the program.

Cedar Creek High School junior Francesca Ruth said parents need to be better role models when it comes to driving. If they expect their children drivers not to text or talk on the phone while driving, they should do the same.

"When I drive, it's not going to be like that," the Egg Harbor City resident said.

Piscataway High School Senior Kerel Hester had a different perspective. Having been in an accident already where someone in the car had been texting, he said the experience had changed his life.

"I can't pay attention when I'm texting," Hester said, "(From now on) when I get behind the wheel I will put (the cell phone) away.”

Pleasantville High School senior Amanda Martinez said that her sister had gone through two vehicles. After the first accident, their parents provided her with another one. After the second accident, they finally put their foot down.

"I've learned from that," she said. "There's no third chance. When I get my license I'm not going to make the mistake."