Marquette Catholic High School students and the state of Illinois have teemed up again to save lives. Statistics show that communication efforts, like the one in the current teen safe driving campaign, have been effective in the past two years in decreasing teen fatalities. “Staying Alive Ain’t No Jive- Use Your Best Skills to Drive” is the slogan for this year’s MCHS Teen Safe Driving campaign. Marquette Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and Peer Leadership will be hosting activities every two week to educate teens and the community.
The latest activity involves signage communicating the message to the community. From December 1st through May 31st, the communities in Metro East will see signs every day reminding them to drive safely. Members of Marquette SADD and Peer Leadership put up signs, large signs and yard signs, with the peace symbol and the slogan, Friday, December 16th throughout Madison County.
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Subway in Alton and McDonalds in Alton, Granite City and in North County, Missouri will be using placemats on their trays with this safe driving message. There will have giveaways at Marquette home basketball games to spread the message.
The slogan,“Staying Alive Ain’t No Jive- Use Your Best Skills to Drive,” was inspired by lyrics from the classic BEE GEE brothers song "Staying Alive." Sam Richey, a senior at Marquette said, “As a member of both the Marquette S.A.D.D. and Peer Leadership groups, I must say that we are trying diligently to spread the word with new and innovative ways to convey the message of safe driving to peers and adults alike.”
The campaign, also known as Operation Teen Safe Driving is part of a joint effort between the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Traffic Safety and the Allstate Foundation Statistics show that Operation Teen Safe Driving has been working. In 2007 alone, Illinois had 155 teen fatalities. This number decreased to 93 in 2008, and down to 77 in 2009. Sponsors of this program include Governor Pat Quinn, Secretary of State Jesse White, IDOT, Secretary Gary Hanning, Illinois State Police, the Ford Motor Company Fund, The Allstate Foundation, and the Governor’s Highway Safety Association.
Marquette received $2000 in grant funds from IDOT/DTS and from the Allstate Foundation. This will be used to develop a peer to peer based program and present a report at the conclusion of the Operation.
According to Cathy Webb, Marquette faculty coordinator for SADD and peer leadership, their mission is to provide the initiative and resources required to challenge the creativity of our teens to develop and implement community-based programs to reduce fatalities and injuries due to traffic crashes among their peers. “Marquette students are excited to partner with these agencies so as to make Illinois a better, safer place for teens on the road,” she said.
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