Mar 7, 2007 5:07 pm US/Central
Garland Program Aims To Keep Teen Drivers Safe
by Stephanie Lucero
GARLAND (CBS 11 News) ―
Five teenagers were killed in automobile wrecks in Garland last year and those numbers have alarmed both students and parents. Now there is a new program in place aimed at helping make sure more students don't become a statistic.
Tears, hugs and flowers could not console the classmates of three promising Garland teenagers who died nearly one year ago.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration car crashes kill more young people, worldwide, every year than any other cause.
Student leaders from the seven Garland High School campuses wear the number 6,000. They do it to emphasize the number of American teenagers who die in traffic crashes every year.
Wednesday students launched a peer-to-peer public awareness program called "Teens in the Driver Seat" and revealed the results of their anonymous study.
Nearly half of the Garland students surveyed admitted to talking on their cell phones and exchanging text messages while driving.
Garland police say speed was the cause of the wreck that took the lives of Raheed Salam, Alex Manriquez and Shane Petroski. At the accident site a damaged wall has been replaces and a plaque has been put up.
Eileen Petroski, Shane's mother, says never a day passes when she doesn't mourn the death of her son. "Some people are afraid to walk up to me and mention it," she says. "They're afraid it will make me sad or make me emotional, but the funny thing is you think about them constantly."
Eileen attended Wednesday's news conference and while she says it's still very painful to talk about her son, she finds solace knowing that his peers are looking out for one another. "I think it's so great because it means that his death made an impact on other people's lives."
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Stumble It!
