Teens Against Distracted Driving (TADD) most recently presented to the students of Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, WA.
A big thank you goes out to: Diana Jones, the mother of Ashely Jones, for sharing her family’s painful story, Federal Way Police Officer John Stray for speaking about distracted driving laws, and every student and faculty member that attended.
You can read the article from the Federal Way Mirror here.
Are you a distracted driver? Take the quiz here.
22-year-old Daniel Pereira plead guilty to reckless driving during an accident in Washington Township that killed Toni Donato-Bolis and her unborn son. Pereira was allegedly texting while driving when his car drifted into the oncoming lanes of traffic, causing the car in front of Donato-Bolis’ to swerved, striking her car head on.
Pereira will pay a $257 fine, lose his license for a year — the maximum penalty for reckless driving — and must attend one anti-distracted driving presentation a year for the next three years. These presentations are given at local schools by Donato-Bolis’ sister, Angela Donato. Pereira is facing no criminal charges, deeply upsetting Donato-Bolis’s family. They contend that they will continue to “fight for justice” and the passing of new, harsher laws.
What are your thoughts? Read the full article and sound off below.
A school bus driver in Arlington, WA was caught texting and driving when an 8th grade passenger snapped a blurry, but identifiable photo. According to the school district, the driver was punished with the “maximum allowable action for her,” but is back on the road because of her previous good standing. Read the full story and watch the video here.
Teens are some of the most at-risk drivers on the road. Their lack of experience and questionable judgment makes them easy targets for traffic accidents. Statistically, a 2007 study showed that the leading cause of death for 13-19 year old males and females in the United States were auto accidents. Therefore it is understandable that vehicle safety would be on the minds of many parents. In reaction to this, an app was created that would allow parents to keep an eye on their child’s driving. Problems start to arise, though, when you find out just how the app works. The teen gets a personalized bumper sticker on their car so that other drivers can report unsafe driving maneuvers to their parents. The issue with this is obvious—in order to report the errant teen, the other driver would have to text and drive (or at the very least, jot down the info for later as they drive.) This would compound an already dangerous situation further. Texting and driving is incredibly risky, as is anything else that takes your eyes off the road. The best way to prevent an accident from happening to your child is to have a frank conversation with them about the danger that driving poses and that putting down their phone while behind the wheel might just save their life, or the life of someone else.
Here is a video of an alternate application that could help prevent texting and driving:
Friend of TADD Diana Jones speaks about her daughter, Ashley, who was killed in a texting and driving incident.
Students from the Kent School District in Washington State teamed up with Teens Against Distracted Driving to make a PSA that they are sharing with students throughout the district to bring awareness to the dangers of distracted driving. TADD is so proud to have been a part of this production and we would like to congratulate all the students involved on a job very well done!!!
Check out this new PSA that was sent to TADD by our Facebook Friends Luke and Zach. If you have a chance please click here to go and vote for their video.
Jason Epstein the founder of TADD was asked to do an interview on Q13 Fox News.