A call was made to 911 and the wait for help seemed endless. Rescue and law enforcement units, plus the Life Flight crew, worked diligently. The coroner and chaplain were summoned and parents were notified. More than 1500 high school juniors and seniors sat in a grandstand watching their peers in this nightmare. The action wasn't real, but it could have been.
Traffic safety is a youth development issue that is growing in concern across the United States.
With the fact that vehicular accidents are the number one cause of death for youth ages 16-20 years, creative prevention efforts have become an increasingly important role in reaching these youth. After seeing creative safety education programming receive recognition at the National Youth Safety Congress, the Richland County 4-H staff developed a new programming idea for Extension. The purpose of the safety docu-drama is to help teens make better decisions for their lives and the lives of others. The areas of drinking and driving, wearing safety belts and driving responsibly are focus areas of the program because of shocking statistics taken from Ohio Department of Highway Safety records. In 1992, a total of 222 motorists aged 16-20 died in traffic crashes.