Project Yellow Light is a film, billboard, and radio competition for college students and high school upperclassmen. Students create stories, designs, and audio projects encouraging peers to practice safe driving habits. The family of Hunter Garner created the scholarship under the project’s namesake to honor his memory after he passed away in a car crash at age 16.
The Project Yellow Light scholarship competition is where students use their creative skills to bring change and highlight different issues impacting their lives and communities. This contest called students to create and produce a short video educating their audience, including peers, adults, and drivers, on the dangers of distracted driving. The winner of the high school category of the competition was Hannah Komulainen, who created this beautiful video, as seen below.
Project Yellow Light partners with Ad Council, which empowers creative storytellers to educate, unite, and uplift the audiences that gravitate to their work for a sense of education and direction. The organization also partners with Clear Channel Outdoor, Elephant Insurance, iHeartMedia, PIX11, and more organizations dedicated to helping them continue to push their message and educate others on the danger of reckless driving.
Texting and driving is an epidemic that has impacted drivers since cell phones began rising in popularity. As we gain control of these smart devices that captivate our eyes for most of the day, we fail to discern when to put them down and when we should focus on the task at hand. A moment when we shouldn’t have our phone is when we’re driving. This is an obvious decision, but it is not as common knowledge as you may think.
People know distracted driving is dangerous, but they do it regardless, for whatever reason. The act of texting and driving, a crime if you don’t know, has the ability to impact more than the person behind the wheel. The worst possible outcome is that a potential crash could impact the livelihood of the driver, along with any additional drivers they come in contact with and any nearby civilians that become casualties of the poor decision-making of the driver. The impact of a split second of peaking at your phone to look at a notification can be the ultimate differentiator of life or death, having a license and not having a fully equipped one or one that’s totaled and unable to be driven.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 3,000 people were killed in 2019 in accidents involving distracted drivers in the United States. That’s more than eight people per day. And almost 425,000 were injured in crashes because of distracted drivers.
Let the following distracted driving statistics show how fatal this driving behavior is in America:
- In 2019, about 1 in 5 people killed in crashes involving a distracted driver were not even in vehicles; they were pedestrians, cyclists, or outside of a vehicle.
- More than eight people in the United States are killed every day due to reported crashes involving a distracted driver.
- Certain age groups are more susceptible to distracted driving than others—teen drivers, high school students, and young adults are relatively inexperienced and still considered novice drivers.
- Texting or emailing while driving was more common among older students than younger ones.
This 2020 data from NHTSA is even more glaring—the report shows cell phone use or texting drivers was a factor in:
9% of all police-reported distraction-affected crashes, or about 50,0000 casualties in total, are over 3,000 lives that we won’t be able to get back because an individual wanted to make a selfish decision that day they decided to start driving.
13% of the distracted driving accidents that resulted in fatalities
9% of distracted driving injury crashes, or about 30,000 accidents.
Distracted driving can ultimately be avoided when implementing discipline, discernment, and patience when behind the wheel. Preventing distracted driving requires a combination of personal responsibility, technology, and awareness. Commit to focusing on the road, set up your GPS, adjust mirrors, and finish any necessary calls or texts. Use “Do Not Disturb” modes or apps blocking notifications while driving, and make sure your phone doesn’t tempt you.
Designate someone else to handle phone tasks or controls for those driving with passengers; parents or adults should set a strong example by never using their phones while driving and educating teens on the dangers of distracted driving. Employers and corporations can play a role by implementing strict policies that prohibit phone use while driving to work.
Awareness campaigns reinforce the message that distracted driving is dangerous. Support laws and regulations that ban texting and driving and advocate for stricter enforcement. Technology, like hands-free systems, can reduce distractions, but they’re not the end all be all to this approach.
The best approach is to eliminate distractions and focus entirely on driving. No text or call is worth risking your life or the lives of others. Prioritizing safe driving habits can save lives.
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