\u201cI didn\u2019t enforce it and that is a regret I will have for the rest of my life.\u201d\u00a0 Those are the words of Aryn Waag as she tells the story of how her son David elected not to wear a seatbelt as a backseat passenger when he was involved in a fatal crash on Wilkerson Road in Greene County in August of this year.<\/p>\n
Waag spoke to an audience of teens and parents and other adults at the John Legend Theater in Springfield on December 15, 2017 as part of the #safeTEENfirst presentation for anyone living in Clark County.<\/p>\n
Organizers Sunnie Jenkins and Laura Weideman brought together members of the Ohio State Patrol, Enon Police Lt Mike Holler, Patrick Brown of AAA Driving School and Teresa Carper of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) for the two hour event.<\/p>\n
Trooper McCloud of OSP shared that there has been a 7.2 percent increase in the number of fatal accidents due to distracted driving this year across the country.\u00a0 He explained to those present that if a trooper finds you texting or being involved with your phone or other device while driving it is an offense that can result in a $180 fine for the first ticket.\u00a0 A second ticket is $200 and the loss of your license.\u00a0 \u201cWe want to save your life\u201d said McCloud of the reasoning behind the traffic stops and penalties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nationwide there were 35,092 fatalities in 2016 with 35 percent involving teen drivers.\u00a0 Now three local Greenon High School students will be counted in the 2017 statistics that are on the rise.\u00a0 According to McCloud the deaths equal out to one per day for distracted driving.\u00a0 He noted that a driver is distracted for 4.1 seconds which does not seem like a lot by text messages but the fact that your vehicle travels the length of a football field in that time is sobering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The message from all of the speakers was clear; passengers also need to be responsible for their interactions during a ride in a vehicle.\u00a0 \u201cLet the driver drive\u201d said McCloud of the interaction seen by many law enforcement officers related to passenger interactions.\u00a0 \u201cWe want you home with your family\u201d he said in regards to the number of times officers must make a visit to inform loved ones of a death in an accident.<\/p>\n
A resounding message to all drivers is the fact that they are responsible for their front and backseat passengers.\u00a0 All of the speakers including the family members of David Waag and Conner Williams encouraged drivers to require all passengers to wear a seatbelt and to ignore their phone and other distractions when behind the wheel.\u00a0 Eating, changing the radio and adjusting the climate controls have all lead to serious accidents according to the experts.\u00a0 For parents, the Ohio law requires that all children under the age of 16 be in a seatbelt and other safety seats while riding in a vehicle.<\/p>\n
Devin Williams, Conner\u2019s sister also shared a letter written by her mother recounting her experience at the accident scene in August and in the days following.\u00a0 She then recounted her experiences as the officials came to meet with the family to describe the accident and cause of death.\u00a0 She spoke as only a young person not far from the age of the target audience could.\u00a0 \u201cI want you to be brave enough for your safety and everyone else\u201d she said as she encouraged anyone who might be uncomfortable with the actions of a driver to stand up and request that they be left behind.<\/p>\n
Aryn Waag and Devin did not hold back on their sharing of details of the accident and the resulting injuries.\u00a0 They speak to the young men and women as if they are part of their extended family in hopes of bringing a sense of reality to the consequences of decisions made by inexperienced drivers and young passengers.\u00a0 As Waag embraces the container that holds her sons cremains she tells the audience \u201cI have memories and I have photos\u201d ending with \u201cdrive safely and smartly\u201d.<\/p>\n
Organizer Laura Wiedemann follows up the speakers by having everyone in the audience, young and old repeat the pledge designed to inspire safety on the roads.\u00a0 Before leaving, everyone has the opportunity to add their hand print to the next Pledge Tree that has become a symbol of the movement.\u00a0 Julie DePhillips joined\u00a0 the organizers and speakers during the handprint session.\u00a0 She lost her son Kenny in a tragic accident on Apple Butter weekend in Enon which left the Greenon Local community in shock and three families bonded by driving related events this year.<\/p>\n
The Ohio Legislature is currently looking at changes to the rules for teen drivers with bipartisan support in Columbus.\u00a0 The changes would include requirements for teens to drive during four seasons with an experienced licensed adult prior to receiving their permanent license.\u00a0 It would also change the curfew to 9:00 pm for young drivers to be out on the roads.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Greenon Local Superintendent Brad Silvas was on hand to accept the canvas that features the hand prints of the original presentation held in Enon on November 18.\u00a0 The Pledge Tree will be displayed at Greenon High School in the coming weeks to promote safe driving and encourage teens who may not have participated in the event to seek more information on how they can \u201cBe Safe and Arrive Alive\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI didn\u2019t enforce it and that is a regret I will have for the rest of my life.\u201d\u00a0 Those are the words of Aryn Waag as she tells the story of how her son David elected not to wear a seatbelt as a backseat passenger when he was involved in a fatal crash on Wilkerson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enoneagle.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}