Teens Invited To Create Seat Belt Buckle-up Messages

Winner of National Road Safety Foundation contest gets $1,000 and trip to NY to work with Emmy-winning director to make a national broadcast ad on seat belt safety

News provided by

The National Road Safety Foundation

Oct 29, 2019, 10:45 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Every car's most effective safety device is sitting right on the seat. Seat belts save nearly 15,000 lives every year, protecting drivers and passengers in crashes from serious injury or death. Of the 36,560 people who died in crashes last year, 47 percent were not wearing seat belts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Despite these statistics, nearly ten percent of drivers and passengers still don't use seat belts. Teens and tweens are over-represented among those who don't buckle up.

That's why seat belt safety is the theme of this year's Drive2Life PSA Contest, launching today by The National Road Safety Foundation in collaboration with Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company. Students in grades 6 – 12 throughout the U.S. are invited to submit a script or storyboard for a 30-second public service announcement (PSA) video to help educate their peers and others about the importance of buckling up.

The winner will receive a $1,000 prize and an expenses-paid trip to New York to work with an Emmy Award-winning director to turn his or her idea into a PSA that will air nationwide on more than 160 TV stations on the nationally-syndicated program "Teen Kids News" next May during Global Youth Traffic Safety Month. The winner also will be profiled in select Scholastic Classroom Magazines, reaching nearly 5 million students and 50,000 teachers. Two runners-up in each grade category (grades 6–8, 9–12) will each receive $500. The teachers of the winner and runners-up will each receive a $100 gift card and a Scholastic magazine subscription.

"Seat belts are the often-forgotten lifesaver for drivers and passengers," said Michelle Anderson of The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF), a non-profit group that creates driver safety programs distributed free to schools, police, parents and traffic safety advocates. "Young people have an above-average percentage of non-use, which is why we are asking teens to help us spread the important message to always buckle up, in the front and rear seats. We look forward to seeing the creative ideas from students to help address this serious safety issue."

"Scholastic recognizes the power of youth voices to affect change among their peers," said Ann Amstutz Hayes, Senior Vice President, Scholastic National Partnerships. "Working again with The National Road Safety Foundation, we hope this year's contest helps young people recognize and communicate the importance of using seat belts every time we get in a car, whether as the driver or as a passenger."

Entry deadline is Feb. 11, 2020. For information, entry form, prize details and complete rules, visit http://nrsf.org/teenlane/contests/drive_2_life. No purchase necessary. No videos or group entries will be accepted and contest is void where prohibited.

Last year's winner, Etame' Kandy, 18, of Clearwater, FL, a student at Palm Harbor University High School, submitted a script for a public service message about the dangers of drowsy driving to win the top prize from more than 800 entries from throughout the U.S.

The National Road Safety Foundation, Inc. (NRSF) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit charitable organization that for more than 55 years has worked toward reducing crashes, deaths and injuries on our nation's highways by promoting safe driving habits through greater public awareness. NRSF produces documentaries, educational programs and public service campaigns for broadcast and for use by police, teachers, traffic safety agencies, healthcare professionals, youth advocacy groups and other grass-roots related agencies, as well as federal, state and local government agencies. NRSF programs, which are free, deal with distracted driving, speed and aggression, impaired driving, drowsy driving, driver proficiency and pedestrian safety. NRSF also works with youth advocacy groups and sponsors contests to engage teens in encouraging safe driving behavior to their peers and their communities.

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

SOURCE The National Road Safety Foundation