First it was Toyota recalling its cars due to floor mat entrapment, followed by the recall for pedal system; where there lay a potential for the accelerator pedal to get stuck. Then, GM recalls over 1.3 million compact cars due to steering problems.

And now…I just heard an article on MSNBC (I know what you’re thinking, who the heck listens to MSNBC? I DO! Don’t judge!), that Toyota’s attempts to fix the acceleration pedal problem have failed.  Owners of these “fixed” cars are complaining that their cars are still accelerating unintentionally.

It’s just really frustrating and scary because I own a car from the once prestigious automobile manufacturer, and I used to feel proud and safe within my car.  But now, I feel like I have been cheated, the company has put profit before customer safety. I wonder if the people in charge wake up in the morning thinking “I found some ways to save few million dollars, but it might hurt some people… Oh well, it’s only a few lives… Nothing money can’t fix!”

On March 6, the Garland Youth Council teamed up with Garland area high schools to put on the event. The day was full of safe driving activities, messages and fun.

Garland area high schools involved in the event included Garland High School, Sachse High School, North Garland High School, Naaman Forest High School, and Lakeview Centennial High School. The TDS programs of those schools hosted the crash-risks booths.

Another exhibit featured the Amber Menefee Mobile Memorial Trailer. The exhibit includes the actual wreckage from a car crash involving a drunk driver. 21-year-old Amber Menefee was killed in that crash.

Local State Farm Agent, Dee Dee Bates was at the event for the second year. She handed out special information to parents with the theme “Arrive Alive…Don’t Text and Drive.”

For the first time, the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) teamed up with the Garland Youth Council to educate teen drivers about the dangers of highways and freeways, and how to safely navigate them.

Thanks to all of those who came out to the event and make sure to mark your calendars for next year’s event March 5, 2011.

1st place poster in the 2010 Driving the Message Contest

In the poster category first place went to Renata Gonzales from Communications Arts High School with “Death Comes in the Many Forms.” Second place went to Jenna Newton of MacArthur High School with “Cut Out of the Picture.” Angel Ortiz from Ysleta High School took home third place for “Death is Waiting.”

In the video category first place went to Megan Shudde, Kristopher Garza, Raven DeLeon, and Kaitlyn Munoz from Communications Arts High School with their entry, “Time and Place for Everything.” Second place went to the Creekview High School Leadership Class (Daniel An, Jeremy Beasley, Kyle Bennett, Taylor Berry, Kate Buchanan, Jin Cha, Stephen Eppling, Marrium Faiyaz, Janay Ford, Brooke Goodspeed, Jessica Gray, Courtney Green, Hannah Green, Sana Hamirani, Corey Henry, Dimekia Hicks, Nicholas Ibarra, Jennifer Kim, Yohan Kim, Misty Lopez, Zohra Mavani, Andre Mccoy, Molly McGuire, Desire, Ogueri, Allison Petty, Jerry So, Christina Solomon, Janine Sultana, Erik Swenson, Alaura Sylvis, Jessica Turner, Ryan Weaver, Leonard Williams) for their entry, “6,000.” Jared Beavers from MacArthur High School took home third place with “Last Call.”

In the program description category first place went to Creekview High School’s leadership class (Daniel An, Jeremy Beasley, Kyle Bennett, Taylor Berry, Kate Buchanan, Jin Cha, Stephen Eppling, Marrium Faiyaz, Janay Ford, Brooke Goodspeed, Jessica Gray, Courtney Green, Hannah Green, Sana Hamirani, Corey Henry, Dimekia Hicks, Nicholas Ibarra, Jennifer Kim, Yohan Kim, Misty Lopez, Zohra Mavani, Andre Mccoy, Molly McGuire, Desire, Ogueri, Allison Petty, Jerry So, Christina Solomon, Janine Sultana, Erik Swenson, Alaura Sylvis, Jessica Turner, Ryan Weaver, Leonard Williams). Vidal M. Trevino’s TDS Club (Alberto Torres, Jr., Oscar Cortez, Jr., Tannya Benavides, Mario A. Flores, Stephanie Perales, Berlyn Vasquez, Jennifer Benavides, Monica Escobedo, Karla Ramirez, Mayra Ramos, and Linda Rodriguez) took home second place, and third place went to Winnsboro High School FCCLA students Colton Wood and Ryan Zimmerman.

Judges were from State Farm Insurance, Sherry Matthews Marketing, ThinkStreet, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Transportation Institute.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all of those who participated. Check out the entries on the official contest page.

Do you want to be a leader in saving teen lives? Here’s your chance! Teens in the Driver Seat is looking for teens to be a part of the second TDS Teen Advisory Board.

The term of the teen advisory board will be from May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2011.

So what will TDS Teen Advisory Board members do?

• Participate in monthly meetings, as well as respond promptly to periodic e-mail requests for input and feedback.
• Attend at least one quarterly meeting.
• Attend the annual Teens in the Driver Seat Summit (usually held in October/ November of each year).
• Required to actively try to organize a TDS program at your local high school and at neighboring schools in your community.
• Assist in organizing program-oriented events and activities.
• Actively promote the TDS web site and participate in online discussions (i.e. – blogs).
• Provide feedback, ideas and opinions on new program materials, safety messages, promotional items and related elements.
• Provide ideas and insight on how to continue to successfully engage teens and sustain their interest in the TDS program.
• Serve as an ambassador/leader for Teens in the Driver Seat, leading by example.

If you are tired of hearing about teen traffic deaths, this is your chance to change the way your peers drive. If you are sick of the attitude your friends have about driving, this is your opportunity to lead by example.

Teens between the ages of 15 and 17 and enrolled in high school (public, private or home-school) are encouraged to apply for the TDS Teen Advisory Board. You must be willing to commit to a minimum of one meeting a month by conference call, web meeting or in person, as well as respond quickly to e-mail requests for feedback on different subjects.

So how do you get involved? Go online and fill out the application. The application deadline is April 2, 2010.

You’re probably wondering, “what is the Global Road Safety Decade of Action?”

The goal of the working group (which also met in 2009) is to reduce the amount of road deaths in 2020 by 50 percent. The purpose of the group is to make sure that goal is obtained.

Attendees who attended last week’s meeting included people from the Governors Highway Safety Association, 3M, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Safe Kids Worldwide, YOURS – Youth for Road Safety, and Teens in the Driver Seat.

Stay tuned to t-driver.com to learn about the development of the Global Road Safety Decade of Action.

A new Texas law states that driver license applicants who are between 18 and 24-years-old must complete a driver’s education course and a driving skills test in order to get their license.

The driver’s education course must also be one that is certified by the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

For more information on the new laws, contact your state’s Department of Public Safety.

It was late afternoon and I was on my way to the dog park talking on the phone with my mother. Before I knew it, I saw what any driver in the driver seat NEVER wants to see; flashing cop lights. Despite being pulled over, I also had to tell my mother I needed to go because I was being pulled over. I was going to have to hear “it” from her later. On top of this, it was in a school zone AND I didn’t have my license because my wallet was stolen on a recent trip to France.

I thought in my head, “I wasn’t speeding! I couldn’t have been speeding! Was I speeding?”

The cop asked for my license and registration. So I told him my sob story of how I had my license stolen in Paris and handed him the police report, which was written in French. Then, I couldn’t help but ask him why I was pulled over because I literally had no idea why, because I was fairly confident I wasn’t speeding.

He looked at me, very irritated, and asked if I had noticed the new sign, stating that you are not allowed to be on your phone, period, while in a school zone. I told him I had no idea about this new law and he looked at me as a parent looks when scolding a child and asked, “Have you killed a kid lately?” This left me speechless and I wanted to cry. Of course I hadn’t killed a kid lately and I never intended too. I thought he went too far with that comment but I keep my cool and dealt with the situation as best I could, getting by with just a warning.

Long story short, pay attention to the signs around you and update yourself on new laws and regulations being passed. You can’t always depend on luck or even your exceptional ways of dodging bullets to get you by. Lastly, always be polite to cops, giving them attitude gets you nowhere.

Lakeview Centennial High School's TDS team with Regional Representative Jen Ross at the Dallas TTI office.

Lakeview Centennial High School’s TDS team took second place at the Skills USA District Competition in the Occupational Health and Safety Single (OHSN) category.

The competition was held in Waco, Texas, and because the team placed, they will be representing their district at the state competition in Corpus Christi in late March.

Team members include Maria Barnett, Katie Bosler, Jade Flowers, Katherine Willis, and Kaytlyn Plake. This is the teams third year of participating in OHSN and second year they have competed with teens and driving as their project.

When asked what the team has learned about teen driving while preparing for the competition, senior Katie Bosler said, “We have learned that driving is more serious than we thought. We had no idea of this horrific, yet silent epidemic. When we found out that three teens from our school had died in auto accidents within the past couple of years, we were shocked! We realized that fender benders happen often, but we never took the time to find out the causes.”

The team’s project is a notebook that contains four separate parts, all with the theme of safe teen driving.

Bosler said, “With this project, we hope to raise awareness among our fellow students and our friends. We hope that once we get the assessments and fliers out, that the students will realized that they need to change their behavior. We want to reduce the number of accidents for all the students at Lakeview.”

Way to go LCHS!