Almost 100 Robbinsville High School parents and students attended the Save Your Teen Driver program on Feb. 2.
Bob Ragazzo, founder of Save Your Teen Driver program, began the evening by explaining why attitude is an important defensive driving technique. Ragazzo encouraged drivers to employ the Sack Your Phone procedure, which uses five actions for consistent safe driving.
The first is for drivers to check their speed and to stay within the legal limits. Second, drivers should continually check the space between their car and the cars in front of them. Next, drivers should look at the mirrors every three to five seconds. Drivers should also be looking down the road 100 yards or more, and should keep asking themselves “what ifs.”
Drivers should pay attention to what are other cars doing in order to remain aware of any occurrence while driving—cars switching lanes, etc.
Cases to store phones while driving were given to all who participated to encourage drivers to Sack Your Phone.
The second half of the program was a 20–minute computer generated driving simulation to assess driving skills. This placed parents and students in real-life scenarios and awarded them a score. Following the simulation, participants engaged in sharing scores, driving experiences and what they learned by taking the test.
Those who participated in the program have access to a full year of free computer-based driver training.
Future plans include offering this program to students and parents at Robbinsville High School every year.
The event was sponsored by the Robbinsville Education Association and the Robbinsville High School PTSA. For more information, please contact Debi Bella, president of the Robbinsville Education Association, at bella@rvilleschools.org or (609) 610-4200.
