National Road Safety Foundation And FCCLA Invite Teens To Promote Seat Belt Usage

RESTON, Va., Sept. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Family, Career Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), a national career and technical student organization with more than 160,000 members, is again partnering with The National Road Safety Foundation, a non-profit group, for the national Safe Rides – Save Lives PSA Contest. 

Entries are now being accepted for Safe Rides – Save Lives, which invites FCCLA youth individually or through their chapters to create public service videos aimed at teens and young adults that raise awareness of the risks of dangerous driving behavior.  Prizes range from $3,500 for the first place winner to $1,000 and $500 respectively for second and third places.

The theme of the contest this year will focus on the lifesaving importance of passenger seat belt safety.  Although the national average for seat belt usage is now up to 90.1 percent, it is considerably lower among teen drivers and passengers.  Unbuckled occupants are at much greater risk of being killed or seriously injured in a traffic crash.

Deadline for entries is December 1, 2017. The winning public service videos will be featured before some 8,400 young people and chapter advisors at the FCCLA National Leadership Conference in Atlanta next June.

"Seat belts are the first line of defense in the event of a crash and it's important that young people hear and heed that message," said Michelle Anderson of The National Road Safety Foundation.  "That is why we are encouraging teens to create video messages that will resonate with their peers."

Last year's contest was won by the Litchfield (Minn.) High School chapter of FCCLA  with a message about driving safety as it relates to the number of passengers in a vehicle driven by a teen.  The PSA opens with a teen writing an apology to her parents.  She explains how they always warned her about distracted driving, but she never thought she would be distracted by too many friends in her car.  As she apologizes for causing her parents pain, we see teens leaving memorial notes on her school locker.

In addition to the Safe Rides – Save Lives PSA Contest, programs from The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF) are featured in FCCLA's FACTS Program – Families Acting for Community Traffic Safety.  FACTS is a peer education program through which students work to save lives through personal, vehicle, and road safety by educating adults and youth about traffic safety and supporting enforcement of local rules and regulations for community traffic safety.  Updated material includes programming on relevant issues teens face today, including distracted and drowsy driving.

For more information about the Safe Rides – Save Lives contest, visit http://fcclainc.org/programs/saferides-savelives/

About FCCLA:  Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a dynamic and effective career and technical student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and address important personal, family, work, and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences education. FCCLA has more than 164,000 members and more than 5,300 chapters from 49 state associations, in addition to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. FCCLA: The Ultimate Leadership Experience is unique among youth organizations because its programs are planned and run by members, and it's the only career and technical in-school student organization with a central focus on careers that support families.  Participation in national FCCLA programs and chapter activities helps members become strong leaders in their families, careers, and communities.

The National Road Safety Foundation, Inc. (NRSF), a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization founded more than 50 years ago, produces traffic safety programs on distracted driving, speed and aggression, impaired driving, drowsy driving, driver proficiency, pedestrian safety and a host of other safety issues.  It distributes the programs free of charge to schools, police and traffic safety advocates, community groups and individuals.  It also sponsors contests to engage teens in promoting safe driving to their peers and in their communities. For more information or to download free programs, visit www.nrsf.org or www.teenlane.org.

Media Contact: David Reich 212 573-6000 [email protected]

SOURCE The National Road Safety Foundation

Related Links

http://www.nrsf.org