Encouraging teens to use seat belts

On Saturday, May 17, the winner of the Lake Park High School Safety Incentive Program was drawn during the Battle of the Bands at Lake Park West High School in Roselle. Sophomore Manal W. Ayyad of Bloomingdale was the winner of the $5,000 grand prize which was provided by Roselle's Friendly Ford.

Ms. Ayyad's name was one of the 500-plus students who turned in a SADD Contract for Life and were entered into the drawing as part of the Safety Incentive Program. The Safety Incentive Program is a cooperative effort between the Roselle Police Department and Lake Park High School to increase seat belt use among high school students while improving students' decision making when it comes to situations which threaten their safety, such as the decision to use alcohol or drugs. Students received raffle tickets for their participation in SADD-sponsored activities during the school year or who were "caught" wearing their seat belts during random spot checks by police officers. Winners were drawn weekly from the students who turned in the raffle tickets.

The program is directed toward teens because statistics show that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15 to-20-year-olds in America. In 2005, 62 percent of teens involved in fatal crashes were not wearing a seat belt, while 23 percent had a blood alcohol concentration over .08 at the time of the crash. One of the biggest reasons for high teen driver and passenger fatalities is low seat belt use among teens. The Safety Incentive Program has boosted seat belt use at Lake Park from a pre-program average rate of 84.5 percent to 90.65 percent in just the first year of the program.

Thank you to all the businesses who donated goods and services in support of the program, especially Joe Kean of Friendly Ford for providing the grand prize and for his commitment to teen driver safety.

Sgt. Dave Hourigan

Traffic Safety

Program Coordinator

Roselle Police Department