FCCLA’s End The Streak Project teaches CHS students: Part 2

CHILDRESS – One of the goals of Childress High School (CHS) students Kara Palomo, Darren Pratt and Meg Ridens is to make driving and its consequences real through their FCCLA project End The Streak with TxDOT.

“There’s a lot of power behind the wheel,” Pratt said. “Nobody really recognizes it.” Palomo added, “The goal is to make it real and show that it will happen to you.”

Their fellow Childress High School (CHS) students went through End The Streak project stations such as the drunk goggles and field sobriety tests on Nov. 7, said TxDOT Traffic Safety Specialist Nicole Tyler said.

“The drunk goggles and field sobriety tests teach kids about the impact on judgment and vision that drinking and driving has,” Tyler explained.

In addition to TxDOT, Palomo, Pratt and Ridens teamed up with Texas DPS, Childress Fire Department, Childress Police Department, Childress Sheriff’s Office, Childress EMS and K3 Towing.

At the distracted driving and go-kart station, CHS students texted while driving the go-kart. Tyler said they ran over cones and stop signs. She also told them not looking up for six seconds is equal to a football field and a half at 55 miles an hour that they’re not even seeing on the road.

Another thing they tried to reiterate is if a driver goes from 75 to 80 miles an hour and the trip is 30 minutes away, it only saves one and a half minutes. “If you get pulled over, that’s 15 minutes you sit on the side of the road,” Tyer added.

“I think it’s really nice to see they’re getting the message of each one through the distracted driving go-karts, and especially, the rollover when you don’t wear your seatbelt and seeing someone fly out of the car,” Palomo said. “I think it’s really impactful.”

During the rollover simulator, students witnessed what happens when drivers and passengers wear their seat belts, and worse, when they don’t, Tyler said. When the dummy flew out, it left students amazed.

“The look on their face was wow,” said Jason Willis. “Seeing somebody fly out of a vehicle – even though it’s a dummy –  is mind changing. It takes two seconds to put on a seatbelt. Two seconds will save your life.”

K3 Towing taught students the Move Over Slow Down law. They recently lost one of their own. Scotty (Kentucky) Dunn was hit while working on the side of the road because someone didn’t obey the Move Over Slow Down law.

They came to the End The Streak in honor of him. “It’s very important to slow down, move over for any volunteer, any emergency vehicle,” said Justin Bishop, who is the general manager of K3 Towing south. “We all just want to work all day and go home.”

“People don’t know the laws or regulations that are in place that keep us protected,” Ridens said. “They think it’s more of courtesy. We’re hoping to bring what is required and the law to attention.”

Childress EMT Basic Warren Bell and Paramedic Tana Detwiler talked about the correlation of speed to the outcomes and showed what happens in a crash when the passenger has their feet on the dashboard. “You get in a wreck or airbags go off, you’re basically breaking both femurs,” Bell said. “If you nick your artery, you’re going to be dead before EMT arrives.”

“We hope we can at least give them a little bit more information on what is dangerous and what they should avoid doing, so they can keep themselves and their friends and family safe,” Pratt said.

“Watching our three FCCLA students teach their fellow students the importance of safe driving is a cool experience,” CHS teacher and FCCLA advisor Amy Detwiler said.  “Our hope is that the students will be more receptive to information coming from their peers!”