Students at 57 Michigan high schools will take part in the state’s Strive for a Safer Drive program this year. Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning spokesperson Kari Arend tells WSJM News the program is a partnership between the state and Ford Driving Skills for Life. It encourages students to create their own safety campaigns.
“It is kind of a fun competition for the kids to see what kind of impact they made in their community and among their peers to reduce that leading cause of death for teenagers, which is traffic crashes,” Arend said.
The students create their driver safety campaigns with $1,000 provided by the program. In the spring, the top five in the state will be picked for cash prizes.
“These are teens talking to other teens about safe driving habits. A lot of the time with both the kids and their advisers, their time is all donated. So these kids are doing this all on their own time apart from school.”
Arend says students could cover topics including distracted driving, seat belt use, speeding, underage drinking, and winter driving. Among the schools participating in Strive for a Safer Drive this year is Benton Harbor High School. It’s the third year in a row Benton Harbor has been a part of the program. You can learn more about Strive for a Safer Driver right here.
