The Anderson Law Firm’s Distracted Driving Campaign: Haltom High School Wins Contest

At the end of May, after a month of signing pledges, the Teens Against Distracted Driving contest finally ended. Haltom High School was able to get the most pledges signed to not text and drive, with 89.3% of their student body! The other four schools did outstanding as well with Southwest High School coming in second with 68.5% of their students, Mansfield Summit High School finishing with 41% of their student body, Keller High School with 39.7% of their students, and Boswell High School with 27.2% of their students.  Overall, out of a total of 10,263 high school students, 5, 385 teens signed the pledge, or 52.5% of students! Congratulations to all the schools that participated for your hard work and dedication! Haltom High School Student Council received $500 to use for their school programs.

Along with the TADD campaign, Haltom High School also educated students about the dangers of drinking and driving with a demonstration called “Shattered Dreams” that visually depicted a car accident caused by alcohol and the repercussions that stem from it. Haltom High School Student Council was able to coordinate the campaign against texting and driving with the school’s “Shattered Dreams” demonstration. Through both the distracted driving campaign and the drunk driving demonstration, Haltom students learned that there are consequences to their actions.

Back in February of 2010, I announced the TADD campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of texting and driving. In exchange for signing a pledge to not text and drive, students received an orange bracelet with I PLDG 2 NT TXT N DRV on it. This served as a reminder to never use cell phones while driving because distractions cause accidents. Texting while driving caused 11% of fatal crashes in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And since 16% of these distracted driving fatal crashes were caused by drivers under the age of 20, I thought that the best group of people to campaign to would be high school students. I was very impressed with their accomplishments, and more teens signed pledges than I originally expected.

I want to continue to encourage teens and adults alike to stop distracted driving. Distracted driving is the leading cause of motor vehicle accidents, whether it be texting, playing with the radio, or trying to multitask (yes, putting make-up on while driving is considered multi-tasking).  It would save a lot more bank accounts and a lot more lives if everyone waited until they got out of the car to do these things, and parents need to set examples for their kids so they know not to do these things when they start driving. So even though you won’t be getting the cool orange bracelet, pledge to yourself to stop texting and driving and make the roads a safer place.

 For more information about our campaign, please contact the Anderson Law Firm in Fort Worth at 817-294-1900 or in Dallas at 214-327-8000. Or fill out our contact form online for a free consultation today.