Local teens to put the brakes on unsafe driving

WEST LONG BRANCH — The nationwide movement Keep the Drive is coming to New Jersey on Nov. 18 with the goal of getting students involved in "smart" driving activism at the grassroots peer-to-peer level.

More than 100 teens representing Shore Regional High School as well as Howell, Freehold, Freehold Township, Manalapan, Marlboro and Colts Neck high schools will gather at Anacon Hall on the Monmouth University campus in West Long Branch on Nov. 18 at 11 a.m.K

eep the Drive New Jersey is a teen-to-teen movement to help young drivers change the way they think and act in a car. It empowers teens to be smart driving activists among their peers. As one of 14 summits nationwide sponsored by The Allstate Foundation this year, the event encourages teens to help reduce the more than 5,000 teen deaths caused by car crashes each year.

After the event, student leaders are encouraged to stage a rally to take on the No. 1 killer of teens — car crashes — and recruit fellow students to join them.

The students will leave their mark on school grounds through a memorial to represent the teens who die each day in motor vehicle crashes, as well as hang banners and signs reminding their peers to drive smart.

The Keep the Drive program, created by The Allstate Foundation, aims to reduce teen motor vehicle crashes so teens will live to see their high school graduation.

Each day an average of 14 teens die in crashes in the United States, causing more deaths each year than drugs, suicide, homicide or violence, according to a press release from the Zeno Group for Keep the Drive.

More than 5,000 teens die annually in crashes, according to 2006 statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and, according to Allstate America's Teen Driving Hotspots Survey, among all states and the District of Columbia, New Jersey had the fourth lowest rate for teen fatal crashes per capita, with 625 fatal crashes involving teen drivers from 2000 to 2006, equivalent to a rate of 17 fatal crashes per year per 100,000 teens.

Most teen car crashes are

preventable, caused by driver error, speeding and distractions, including text messaging and cell phones, according to the release.

A national survey conducted by The Allstate Foundation in 2005 found that peer-to-peer outreach is an essential, and often overlooked, component of teen driving programs.

At the event at Monmouth University, students will be gathering to share personal driving stories and discuss local tragedies. Students will also be creating smart driving action plans to ultimately save teen lives.

There will also be students signing the Keep the Drive pledge, a rally staged with signs and banners, and students performing popular songs with their own driving lyrics. For more information, call 312-755-5462 or 908-252-5036.