Flint Township View

GBHS among schools participating in teen safe driving program


GRAND BLANC — Students from Grand Blanc High School will have the opportunity to become better, safer drivers by participating in the “Strive for a Safer Drive” (S4SD) program, a peer-led traffic safety campaign that aims to reduce the leading cause of death for teens – traffic crashes.

Grand Blanc is one of 38 Michigan high schools selected to participate in the program.

Now in its 11th year, S4SD is a public-private partnership between Ford Motor Company Fund’s Driving Skills for Life program and the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. The program encourages teens to speak with their peers and their communities about making safe driving choices.

Each participating school will receive $1,000 which students may use to create teen-led campaigns to educate their classmates and community about various traffic safety topics including speeding; seat belt use; pedestrian, bicyclist and passenger safety; and impaired, distracted, nighttime and winter driving.

Participating schools will submit videos or PowerPoint presentations outlining their campaigns. The top five schools will receive cash prizes of $500 to $1,500.

In 2020, there were 473,443 15- to 20-year-old licensed drivers in Michigan, state records show. Those drivers comprised 6.7 percent of all Michigan drivers.

However, 7.3 percent of all traffic deaths involved victims in that age range, according to the Michigan State Police. Of those 51.9 percent were drivers.

The crash deaths primarily were attributed to inexperience and risk-taking behavior, according to the MSP.

For more information about S4SD, visit Michigan.gov/S4SD. L.R.