Even if it’s just a video portrayal, the sight of your own friend as the victim of a car crash is an emotional and eye-opening experience.
“I do think it makes a difference,” said Carly Seamon, a Shelton High School senior, who’s one of the Valley teenagers “starring” in videos depicting the consequences of distracted driving.
The videos premiered Tuesday evening at Griffin Hospital.
The public service announcements have been selected to be aired on the Consumer Reports website during the high school prom season to teach teenagers about the dangers of drunk and distracted driving, especially driving while texting.
High school students from Shelton, Ansonia, Oxford and Derby wrote the “Safe Teen Driving” public service announcements and acted in them, with help from Safe Kids Greater Naugatuck Valley, sponsored by Griffin Hospital in Derby, and video producer, Ilene Wolf, of Finding Center Productions.
About 3,000 people a year die in distracted driving crashes, according to the U.S. government.
The problem is especially bad for high school students — newer drivers, often armed with cell phones.
- 11% of all drivers under the age of 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the crash. This age group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted.
- For drivers 15 – 19 years old involved in fatal crashes, 21 percent of the distracted drivers were distracted by the use of cell phones (NHTSA)
Fred Dapp, a Shelton High School senior, said teenagers should wait to text and talk on the phone until after they get out of the car.
“You don’t need communication 24/7,” he said.
The videos depicted the hectic, fun-filled days around graduation time.
In one of them, students who had “died” in crashes appeared in white T‑shirts.
“I could have been prom queen,” one girl said. “I could have graduated,” said another.
In the video, “No Big Deal,” an unenthusiastic high school senior takes his first alcoholic drink of the day soon after waking up on graduation day.
The film ends with shots of students getting into cars, driving while texting and drinking and the sounds of glass breaking and hubcaps hitting the ground during a crash.
“It is a big deal,” words at the conclusion proclaim. “Drive as if your life depended on it.”
In another video, Liam, played by Liam Cummings of Shelton High School, receives an acceptance letter from the University of Rochester. Later that day, he texts while driving, and a crash tragically ends his life.
As the “Pomp and Circumstance” graduation march plays in the background, a student tells the commencement audience that her class is dedicating the 2014 graduation “to our friend Liam. We are missing someone tonight. When Liam died, a part of me died too. In a blink of an eye, in a glance at a text [message], our lives can end.”
A New Approach
Having Valley teenagers take part in the Safe Teen Driving Awareness videos is new this year, said Cathi Kellett, special programs coordinator in the Community Outreach and Parish Nurse Department at Griffin Hospital.
A dozen students came up with the video ideas, helped write them and starred in them.
The videos and their public service messages grew out of focus groups coordinated by the Ansonia and Shelton Youth Service Bureaus, and specifically Kellett, Sally Schwaller of the Shelton Youth Service Bureau and Eileen Ehman, grants manager of the Ansonia Public Schools.
The students fine-tuned the storyboards and acted out the scenes, Kellett said, and Wolf edited and produced the videos.
The students put in 300 volunteer hours and “gave up” Saturdays and holidays, said Daun Barrett, Griffin’s director of community outreach and the Parish Nurse Department.
Barrett praised Kellett, Schwaller and Ehman for their dedication and the students for their enthusiasm.
She called the videos “phenomenal,” and others in the audience said watching them gave them goose bumps and chills.
Kellett, whose two children appeared in the films, said her group wanted to make an impact.
“We want to save lives,” she said. “We want to get kids to learn that distracted driving is not ok.”
The students said making the videos has made them determined not to text while driving and not to drive with friends who do.
Michelle Kellett of Shelton said that making the videos opened her eyes to the fact that partying and drinking could end a life quickly.
“None of it is worth it,” she said.
“Think twice before driving, and make good decisions,” Kevin King of Oxford High School urged the audience.
Teenagers tend to drive more during the hectic partying leading up to graduation.
“You just have to be careful,” Seamon said.
The Safe Teen Driving program is funded by groups including the Valley Community Foundation, the Valley United Way Special Needs Grant, Safe Kids Connecticut, Safe Kids Naugatuck Valley, Griffin Hospital, the Ansonia Youth Service Bureau, the Shelton Youth Service Bureau and Valley Parish Nurses.
Students who participated in the program are Kayla Adamowski, Ansonia; Chantel Dumas, Derby; Shyanne Garofalo, Derby; Priya Patel, Derby; Kyle Barrett, Oxford; Gianna Carloni, Oxford; Julia Carloni, Oxford; Kevin King, Oxford; Liam Cummings, Shelton; Fred Dapp, Shelton; Michelle Kellett, Shelton; Sean Kellett, Shelton; Carly Seamon, Shelton and Kristen Sewell, Shelton.
