Teens Create Road Safety PSAs

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For the past three years, the National Road Safety Foundation and the Chicago Auto Show have sponsored a contest called Drive Safe Chicago for teenagers to create Public Service Announcements about distracted driving. This year’s winner, 17-year-old Hannah Christy, created a PSA about drowsy driving, something teens pulling all-nighters might be familiar with.

Christy and the other finalists worked with professional film crews to create their spots, and Christy’s will be featured later this year on TV stations around the country.

Christy and the other finalists worked with professional film crews to create their spots, and Christy’s will be featured later this year on TV stations around the country.

Distracted driving kills more than 3,300 people each year. People typically think of “distracted driving” as “cell-phone use,” but it can encompass much more, as Christy demonstrated in her PSA. Last year’s winner focused on a teen driver whose car was packed with loud, distracting friends.

The Drive Safe Chicago campaign allows teens to offer a fresh voice in a field usually dominated by adults, and other teens will likely respond better to messages coming from their peers.

The National Road Safety Foundation has also sponsored a PSA contest in conjunction with the Atlanta Auto Show, and will be teaming with the Los Angeles Auto Show this year. There’s still time to enter the LA contest, so if you live around there and have teenagers interested in safety, see if they want to enter. Maybe your kid can save someone’s life.