The ABC's On Safety
Instruction for Report
SAFETY ACTIVISM BY ORGANIZATIONS, FOUNDATIONS, AND INSTITUTESSAFETY ACTIVISM BY COMMERCIAL, BUSINESS, AND INSURANCE COMPANY SITESSAFETY ACTIVISM BY GOVERNMENTSAFETY ACTIVISM BY INDIVIDUALSHOW MY REPORT COMPARES TO THOSE OF MY FELLOW CLASSMATESMY CONCLUSION |
MADDor MothersAgainst Drunk Driving, is a non-profit grass roots organization with more than 600 chapters nationwide.
The main goal of MADD is to look for effective solutions to related drunk driving and underage problems. They also support those who have been victims of DUI/DWI.
MADD orginated by a small group of women in 1980 after a teenage girl was killed by a hit-and-run-driver, and since then, MADD has continued to grow nation-wide.
These are some facts I found on MADD's home page:
The mission of this program is to prevent druken driving tragedies and to save the lives of college students and communities by building and supporting a national network of collegiate safe ride programs.
GRADD basicallly helps colleges who are interested in such a program. They offer services such as unlimited phone and e-mail support and guidance, information and resources about safe ride planning on the World Wide Web and much more. They also offer assistance with funding and administrative proposal development, budget preparation, publicity campaigns, fundraising prograns, vehicle maintenance, training, and educational programs.
SOME FACTS I FOUND ON THE PAGE
GRADD seems to be a very good idea because drinking and driving within college communites appears to be a great problem. I think it is a great idea for colleges to support this type of program because it will not only save many student lives, but it would also make the community and it's roads much more safe. However, I don't think it is a solution to stop drinking and driving, because I don't know how many students would actually use this program, especially if they are chronic drinkers.
PAST or Parents Against Speeding Teens originated when two teens were killed on the roads due to speeding. The boys parents and other concerned individuals became determined to educate young drivers of driving safety. The main focus of PAST is to bring education and awareness to young drivers on road saftey. Especially since they strongly believe that young drivers need to be aware of the sometimes tragic consequences of speeding and reckless driving.
PAST is currently is the process of developing a Street Watch program, and the purpose of it is to get the public more involved with protecting young and inexperienced drivers by distributing posters and postcards out to public areas in the United States, such as libraries and grocery stores. Therefore, with the postcards, anyone who witnesses reckless or bad driving behavior on the roads by young inexperienced drivers are able to fill out the card and send it back to them, and in return, PAST will report the data of the incident and forward it on to the appropriate law enforcement agency. The program also states that the local police departments told them that when they recieve one of these cards they would pay a visit to the home of the driver to talk to them about the dangers of reckless driving.
LEARN + LIVE is an organization that represents parents who have lost their child due to road accidents, and it was started in 1989. This program lobby's for common-sense measures to make learning to drive a safer process and save other families from losing a child due to bad driving behavior. They lobby for a compulsory probationary period for a newly-qualified drivers, and with common-sense proposals to reduce the accident rates. Some of the issues they raise are: restriction on the driving of high-powered cars, limits on the number of young passengers in a vehicle, instruction on motorway, and night driving and skid control to name a few.
Learn + Live also recommends the use of a P-Plate. A P-Plate is a probationary plate that is placed on the vehicle to let other drivers know that the driver is an inexpereinced driver who has received his license less than two years.
HORRIBLE FACTS I FOUND ON THE PAGE
Therefore, here is one of the very heartbreaking and disturbing information I found:
Overall, I think this organization is quite effective not only in thier ideas, but also by the way they publicize their beliefs and values. I think thier web page is highly effective because it clearly illustrates the dangers of reckless driving. For me, seeing all the young people who have died on the page made my stomach turn upside down because my heart went out to them and their families, especially since their deaths were very tragic and could have been prevented. It is a very worthwhile site to visit becaue it may change your views on reckless driving.
ADDY or Alcohol, Drunk Driving, and You, is a Colorado program that started in 1982. It was first created to address the problems and issues of underage driving. This program is commissioned by the NCADD or National Commission Against Drunk Driving. ADDY also has supporters in businesses, schools, youth organizations, law enforcement agencies, faith communities, the media, health care providers, and civic and parent organizations.
The Purpose and Goals of ADDY are:
Share House, Inc. is a non-profit organization, and their main goal is to provide chemical dependency treatment and recovery services to those in need and the prevention of abuse through education. The program is based on the 12-step recovery process of Alcholics Anonymous.
The program includes:
BADD or Bussiness Against Drunk Driving, is a non-profit corporation that was formed in 1987 in Wisconsin. Through BADD, businesses have the chance to educate their employees on the dangers, consequences of drinking and driving. They also educate employees on how they can prevent themselves from drinking and driving.
BADD also provides:
BADD seems to be very good and influential in the work enviornment, especially since some workers drink after work to socialize with other employees. BADD is an excellent program to have because it educates adults on the dangers of drinking and driving. I believe that adults need to be reminded of the dangers of alcohol, and that drinking and driving is not only a problem among teenagers. Therefore, having a program, such as BADD in the workplace is a great way to start educating the public to be more aware of drinking and driving.
Good Year, the popular maker of tires for automobiles provides a site on tire safety. They provide information on how drivers should keep their tires properly inflated and have them rotated on a regular basis to ensure a more trouble-free driving. They also provide information on how to maintain a cars tires and information on how tires can get ruined and be dangerous while driving.
I found this site to be very informative because it provided simple solutions to prevent accidents on the roads. I did not realize that inproper care of a cars tires could lead to premature tread wear that could cause tire failure. I found this site to be quite valuable for me not only because I am a consumer, but also because its informative and it gives suggestions on how we can be safer on the roads.
TEENVUE: The Teenage driver Safety Program is a program that parents of teenagers may join. It is an simple, inexpenisve(less than $.10 a day) way to keep insurance rates down. When a parent joins Teenvue they can register one or more vehicles in their database for a year. They will also receive a numbered Teenvue sticker to display on the vehicle(s) the teen is driving. The sticker displays a phone number and a unique identification number that one can call if the driver is displaying bad driving behavior to alert the Teenvue drivers parents of unsafe driving or good driving behavior to reward the teen driver. In return, the Teenvue program will notify the parents by mail, fax, or email on the teen drivers behavior, whether it is good or bad.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety was founded in 1989, and is an alliance of consumer, health and safety groups and insurance companies and agents working together to make the roads a much safer place.
The advocates enourages the adoption of federal and state laws, policies and programs that save lives and reduce injuries. The Advocates help build coalitions to increase particpation of a wide array of groups in public policy initiatives that advance highway and auto safety.
These are some of the issues they raise:
I think that Advocates for Highway and Auto safety is great because they are dedicated to saving the lives, preventing injuries, and safety of our community. I think the advocates play a great role in develoing legistlative and regulatory policies and educating the plublic on the importance of highway safety. Moreover, I think it's an excellent idea that health and safety groups and insurance companies and agents work together, share their exeptertise, and help eachother and the public in making the roads a much safer place.
Air Bag Safety Campaign is a public/private partnership of insurance companies, automotive manufactureers, child safety seat manufacturers, occupant restraint manufactureers, government agencies, physicians, child health and safety organizations.
Program activities are directed toward maximizing earned media "news" opportunities at the state and local levels. They also provide technical assistance to states for public education and media efforts associated with legislative and enforcement activities.
These are some of the Safety Tips the Air Bag Safety Campaign Provides on Their Site:
Mohawk Ambulance Service site does not provide much information on their background and/or who are their supporters, but I think their name speaks for itself. Mohawk Ambulance Service encourages parents and teen drivers to agree on responsible driving because the incidence of teenagers being involved in accidents is very high.
The site also provides a Contract between parents and teens, the contract states:
It is understood that having a driver's license and driving a motor vehicle are privleges. Any privilege has to be earned, and it must be earned on a continual basis. This means that driving privleges may be revoked by either parent due to an infraction of the following rules:
***Signature of both the parent and the teen are required***
I liked this site a lot because the contract between parents and teen drivers is a excellent idea. Moreover, the contract does not only require cooperation from the teen, but also from the parents. It's a good idea that the parents are also activly involved in the teenagers life. The way the contract is written is good because it allows the teen to not be afraid to call his/her parents for help. I hope many parents find this site and use this contract because I think it would be very beneficial for both the parents and the child.
Erie Insurance Company is an insurance company that provides a great site for parents to visit because of its valuable and informative information for parents of young drivers. They also provide a video tape for a very low price ($3.00) that informs parents on the importance of teen safety and the consequences of reckless driving among teenagers. The site also provides statistics and facts on teenage driving in the United States.
These are some facts I found on Erie's web page:
I found this site to be quite informative because it provides information for both parents and young driviers. I think it's great that companies are involved in helping save lives in our society, especially among young drivers. It's a great shame that many teenagers are killed each year due to an automoblile accident and/or driving under the influence of alcohol, because it could have been prevented. It is also very sad because many teenagers look forward and are very anxious to get their license, but receiving a license, unfortunately, may not be very rewarding.
President Clinton on Teen Driving Under the Influence, this is a memorandum dated October 19,1996, on reducing Teenage Driving Under the Influence of illicit Drugs.
This text focused on how to deter drug use in the following areas:
Although President Clinton already passed the zero-tolerance law, I found this text to be important because it proves the importance and seriousness of teenagers drinking and driving. Many teenagers probably feel that it is not a very serious issue because they don't fully understand the consequences of it, however, seeing a memorandum from the president of the United States on the issue of teenage driving under the influence, may make them realize the seriousness of it.
Drive Alert and Arrive Alive is a national campaign on drowsy driving and it originated in 1993 at the New York Govenor's Traffic Safety Forum. It's main goals are to reduce the number of sleep-related crashes.
Who is Most at Risk for Drowsy Driving?
Driving on Line with Bill Lavender is an internet resource center about successful driving. According to Bill Lavender, the purpose of his web site is to share the seriousness of motoring safety with the pleasure of good driving and some essential humor.
In this site, one can take a practical driving test and read about funny stories that happened to drivers. However, there is also a very serious side to this site that discusses drugs and alcohol, smart driving, and statistics on accidents.
These are some interesting advice I found on this site:
This is a very informative site because it discusses many different issues and it informs drivers on how to avoid and prevent certain situations. However, I found it to be very unfortunate that there were not too many other sites like this on the web. This is one of the very few that I found.
These are some tips Ryan provides on his site:
I was very impressed with this site for many reasons. The first reason is that the site is provided as a form of community service, and the other reason is because it is designed by a teenager. Moreover, the site provides very inportant tips on driving, such as driving around school, town, in bad weather, and general driving tips. I also liked it because it is directed and provided for young inexpereinced drivers. Although some of the information may seem common-sense, it is very informative because many people, especially teenagers do not have enough experience in driving to know what they are suppose to do in certain situations, such as not pumping the brakes if the car is equipped with ABS (anti-lock) brakes.
Learning to drive: A Guide for Parents is a booklet provided on the web for parents to help their teens learn to drive and understand the consequences and privledges of driving. One of the suggestions it offers is to have a professional teach the teen how to drive, because professionals are more used to anticipated problems that occur with young drivers. Moreoever, they have the advantage of dual controls. Another section I found interesting was on defensive driving techniques. According to the article, a good defensive driver has to work at developing good driving techniques, such as, managing space and time. Managing space and time means that the driver must have space to maneuver and time to react.
This booklet is very helpful for parents who have teenagers who are at the age to receive their license. It provides much information on how a parent can help their teen prepare for their driver's license written and road test. It is great that there is a booklet that a parent can refer to for information on how to deal and prepare a child for their driver's license, especially for parents who are inexperienced with teen drivers. It is also important to have a learning to drive guide for parents because the parents are also repsonsible for their teens driving and driving behavior, therefore, they need to understand what is involved for them as a parent.
It's great that a former race car driver is interested in helping teen drivers. Especially since he may be a role-model to many young people, thus, his words of advice will be more meaningful and taken more seriously. I agree with him when he says that teenagers taking driver's education classes need to spend more time driving in a car than sitting in a class room because driving requires practice.
Dr. Driving Teaches Driving Psychology is a site that originated in 1982 by Dr. Leon James. The main goal of this site is to be aware of our driving conscience, because according to Dr. Driving, we all have a Dr. Driving within us. Moreover, he promotes and hopes that drivers change their bad driving behavior habits, and develop a desire to change and make positive improvements.
There is A LOT of information that can be found on this site that can answer almost any questions on driving. However, since most of you who will read this site are students of Dr. James, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some information I came across that interested me, and never knew.
One of the interesting things I happened to find was the meaning of Dr. Driving's Logo. At first, just by looking at the logo I did not realiza the significance of it, but once I read what each aspect symbolized an "A-haa" popped in my head, and I viewed the logo in a different light, not just as a cartoon caracature.
Dr. Driving's site is very informative and very detailed. Obviously, he knows what he is talking about, I think it's great that he teaches his expertise by using his own experience, especially since he is not ashamed to share some of his bad driving habits.
Taking Dr. James' class on driving psychology has helped me not only to be more aware of my driving behavior, but it also has made me more aware of my cognitive, affective, and sensorimotor domain. I think his class, along with his web site, is very effective in teaching driving safety.
P.S. I can't believe I was searching the web for at least an hour for my last site on safety before I thought about Dr. James' site...it was right under my nose!!! :)
Looking at the reports that were on Safety Activism, there were two reports that I liked. I liked Liane Urodomo's report because her print was very easy to read. Her content and information of sites she found were also very informative. I also liked Robert Nakagawa's use of different color fonts because it made it attractive, easy to read, and quite effective. I also found his comments to ge quite thorough in explanation.
This is obviously a very serious topic, and it's great to know there are many advocates and teachers out there who share their knowledge and expertise in this area to make our roads and communities a much safer place.
Hopefully my report is thorough enough to help future generations to do a report on this topic. Doing a report like this takes a lot of time, thus, my advice is to prepare yourself to spend many hours on the computer browsing the internet. However, it is very interesting and sometimes very depressing to learn some of the tragedies that occur due to reckless driving, thus, safety activism is a very serious and important topic to learn and pass on to others!!!
email me
National GRADD or National Group Rides and Designated Drivers, is a national network and resource center for collegiate safe ride programs. The program started after colleges that already had such a program received repeated requests from schools seeking information on how to start safe riding programs.
Although the Street Watch program appears to be a good idea, I don't think it would be too effective if the law enforcemnt doesn't cooperate. Although the program states that local polilce departments had told them they would support the "postcards," I don't know how much value it holds. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of the program will only known be after it is fully developed. In my opinion, if the Street Watch program develops, I think it is a good idea because I think it would "scare" teens and make them be more aware of their driving behavior. I know that if this program was started when I first got my license I would have been afraid to drive recklessly because anyone would be able to report me.
When you first arrive to this page, there is a photo of young people who have been killed on the road due to inexperience and reckless driving. I found this to be very disturbing not only because they were young, but also because their deaths could have been prevented. Also, when you click on a person's face, you are given information on the youngster and how he/she was killed.
Matthew was only 17 years old when he went out for what seemed like a fun trip with 3 friends. He had passed his driver's license test only 4 weeks prior and was killed in a accident due to speeding. Accident investigators assessed the speed at the time of the impact at 70mph. More disturbing is the fact the 2 of the young passengers also died.
I believe that Learn + Live is an effective program because the issues that they raise are very important and worthwhile. I think the idea of using a P-Plate is a very good idea because it allows other drivers to know that the person is an inexperienced driver, thus, other drivers can be more courteous, passive, and defensive when these drivers are near. I think it is a great idea if new drivers are willing to drive with a P-Plate on the car, because it could be quite effective for both the driver and other drivers on the road. In my opinion, if I was a new driver and had a P-Plate stuck on my car, I would be more aware of my driving behavior because I would not want other drivers to think I could not drive properly.
I am convinced that ADDY is a good approach to prevent and/or reduce drinking and driving because they seem to get the community involved, and they don't seem to try and lecture on the negative aspects of drinking. Instead they seem to provide information on how one can lead a more positive lifestyle. I find this approach to be good because it allows a person to understand that there are other alternatives he/she can do besides drinking to make his/her life seem worthwhile.
This can be an effective program for those who are aware they have a problem and are willing to help themselves. I feel this type of treatment only works well for those individuals who are committed to the program. Nonetheless, overall, I feel this type of organization is very effective in the community because it helps to save those who recognize their problem by treating them and helping them to be a better and more productive citizen. Also, it is very important to have because it provides individuals with adequate services to help them recover from an addiction or violent behavior.
SAFETY ACTIVISM BY COMMERCIAL, BUSINESS,AND INSURANCE COMPANY SITES
This is an example of one of the bumper stickers:
The Teenvue program seems to be good idea for parents of teen drivers because there are many times parents do not know the truth on how their teen drives. I think it can be effective if the community and public react properly to the sticker by calling Teenvue to notify them on how the driver was behaving. I think it can be very effective because the public gets involved in helping to prevent reckless driving behavior. There are many times when there are no law enforcements around to punish reckless driving behavior, thus, by having a bumper sticker where one can call to notify parents on how their teen is driving is a great idea to me!
The Air Bag Safety Campaign appears to be very influential because many people don't understand or know how dangerous it is for children to ride unbuckled while in a car, and the dangers about air bags. Therefore, I believe it is a great idea to have campaigns such as this one to educate the public on the features in a car because many people may take it for granted that air bags and seat belts are guaranteed to be more safe, and they don't realize that it could do the opposite.
I found this site to be very informative because many people do not talk about the dangers of drowsy driving. There are many advocates who speak about the dangers of drinking and driving, but there are not too many advocates and oranizations who speak about drowsy driving. I think this issue is a very serious one and should be discussed more often. I remember watching a TV news program that discussed and experimented on this topic. They found that those who drive while they are tired can be just as dangerous or even more dangerous as those who drive under the influence of alcohol. Therefore, I believe it is a very seious topic that needs to be more publicized because anyone can fall under this category.
SAFETY ACTIVISM BY INDIVIDUALS
Ryan, A New Teen Driver's Home Page is a site written by a teen driver who received his driver's license a few years ago. He decided to make a web site on this topic because when he was in high school, many of his peers got into automobile accidents, and some were very serious. Therefore, as a community service, he thought it would be a good idea to collect some tips that new drivers might find helpful.
Teen Driving by Bob Bondurant is a site provided by a former professional race car driver. This site provides information on how to prevent teenage accidents on the road. Bob Bondurant believes that teenagers who are learning to drive should spend more time behind the wheel and less time in the classroom when taking a driver's education class. He also provides suggestions and advice for both the parents and the new teen drivers. Moreoever, Bob and Ford motor company are committed to helping teen drivers by offering select high school students to join the Ford Motor Company Teenage driving School with Bob Bondurant with hopes that they can help save the lives of many teen drivers.Here is the meaning of Dr. Driving's logo,and I hope it brings an "A-haa" in your mind also!
The HEAD represents the driver's rational state of mind doing the driving.
HOW MY REPORT COMPARES TO THOSE OF MY FELLOW CLASSMATES
MY CONCLUSION
Doing this report on safety activism educated me much more on the importance of driving safety. It also made me more aware of common-sense things that people usually are not aware of or carelessly forget about to make their driving much more safe, such as, preparing for the journey ahead of time, not to rush while driving, be comfortable while driving, and always be ready to react while driving (such as braking suddenly).