Though not yet licensed themselves, Modesto teens share how to ‘Survive the Drive’
Distracted driving comes in many forms: texting, juggling a burger and drink, applying makeup, reaching for something, having an unrestrained and restless dog in the vehicle, being a lookie-loo when there’s been a crash.
But talking to a passenger? Doesn’t seem that would qualify.
Except for when it does.
Johansen High School sophomore Natalia Villalobos said her mother is deaf, so the family’s circle of friends includes “a whole bunch of deaf people” who got in the habit of signing as they drive.
That means one hand on the wheel, one hand being used to communicate. And if they’d gotten “professional” at it, Natalia added, they’d even use a knee to keep a vehicle on course as they signed with both hands.
When she learned last year about the organization Impact Teen Drivers and its efforts to combat distracted and reckless driving, Natalia carried this message to the deaf church she attends: “Hey , maybe not sign and drive.” She said it sunk in with a lot of people, who now instead of signing behind the wheel “are like, ‘No, no, no, let me focus on the road.’”
Natalia and three classmates gathered at Johansen on Wednesday afternoon with teacher Kelly Nasrawi, California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Olsen and registered nurse Rena Bryant, coordinator of Safe Kids Stanislaus. They talked about the Survive the Drive awareness campaign the students and a couple others are about to launch as part of the Create Real Impact educational grant contest run by Sacramento-based Impact Teen Drivers.
Car crashes that result from distracted or reckless driving are the No. 1 cause of teen deaths in America, Bryant reminded the students. But the messages they will send out on social media and other platforms may help these young people — the four girls gathered Wednesday aren’t even drivers yet themselves — protect not just their peers but all drivers and their passengers.
Driver would have been late, but alive
A family member’s risky driving cost him his life, Johansen sophomore Yaresly Munoz shared Wednesday. When she was about 5 years old, she lost an uncle in a crash because he was late for work, was speeding and collided with a truck, she said.
But for examples of the deadly consequences of distracted or reckless driving, the students need to look back only days or weeks, not years.
Olsen told the Johansen teens of a crash on Interstate 5 in Stanislaus County on March 2 that killed a mother and her 9-year-old daughter. The driver of a box truck admitted to momentarily looking away from the road when he reached for some paperwork, Olsen said. The car ahead of him, carrying the mom, daughter and others, had slowed down and was moving into the center median because of a flat tire. The box truck crashed into the rear right side.
“How important was that, to see that paperwork, get that paperwork at that point?” the officer asked the girls rhetorically. “It’s not important.” At freeway speeds, a driver who looks down for just a second will have traveled more than 90 feet, he said.
Look for @JoHoDriveSafe
The Johansen students will run their campaign April 5-9 as @JoHoDriveSafe on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. For it, they’re creating five infographics, five gifs and five videos. And they’ve found partners including Doctors and Memorial medical centers, the CHP, Modesto City Schools, the Modesto Fire Department, Boomers, Modesto Junior College, the Modesto Police Department, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, driving schools and news media to share their messages.
To help students reach a broad audience with their important messages, they hope members of the public will follow the campaign and retweet, repost, like and share.
The students shared a campaign preview, an infographic titled “Simple Steps to Safe Driving.” Among the tips it includes:
- Turn down the sound: Rocking out to a favorite song, alone or with passengers, can create a distracting environment.
- Toss the gloss: Grooming while driving takes your hands off the wheel and your eyes off the road.
- No naughty latte: Eating and drinking beverages (especially hot ones) while driving is a serious distraction.
None of this really should be news to drivers of any age. But everyone needs reminders. Imagine how much the distraction of sipping a drink is multiplied if hitting a bump or having to make a sudden stop immediately results in a lap full of icy cold or steaming hot liquid.
The campaign will use a video to illustrate how risky it can be to consume food while driving, said junior Akouavi Abok. Unwrapping and eating food are both manual and visual distractions, she said, and “we demonstrate the right ways and wrong ways to do it. ... At the end of the video, I put what to do when you’re in that situation, like pull over to eat, or wait till you get home to eat.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
