Point Blank students work with Orcas Volunteer Firefighters and EMT's on a video about texting while driving.
By Jessica Gudgell
An epidemic is sweeping across America causing drivers everywhere to black out for five seconds at a time. It’s called texting and driving. Texting behind the wheel of a moving vehicle causes one’s eyes to leave the road for an average of 5 seconds, which may not seem like a long period of time but at 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of a football field-completely blind. Surveys tell us that 30% of all teens are texting and driving and 48% ride with people who text and drive.
In response to these unnerving facts, Orcas High School’s Point Blank Club, a chapter of SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), is collaborating with Orcas Towing and Orcas Island Fire Department and EMT Associations to create a video reenactment of a car crash as a result of a texting driver. This group is working along side other community volunteers from the Orcas fire and rescue teams, the Orcas Police Department, and Bennett Video Productions, which have graciously offered to film our presentation for a nominal fee.
Point Blank will present this video to students, their parents and Orcas High School staff, Orcas Christian School students, and you, our community members. The presentation will be held on Wednesday, April 6th, in the high school gymnasium at 1:30pm. We will view the video and then hold a brief question and answer segment at the end. A parent tips sheet will be available and attendees will be asked to sign a pledge promising to never text and drive. We would like to invite any and all to come join us and show your support.
After presenting to the community, Point Blank will then travel to the Spring Youth Prevention Summit in Grand Mount, WA. on May 19th to show the presentation to another 300 students. Finally, Point Blank will submit this video to the online, Act Out Loud Contest. Here we will be competing against many other prevention groups from around the country. Gaining recognition as the video that received the most online votes would allow us to win a substantial monetary award. We ask for our community to visit the Act Out Loud site, https://www.actoutloud.org, and cast your vote! Voting will open on Monday, May 16th and continue till Sunday, May 22nd. If you have any questions you can contact our Point Blank advisor Julie Pinardi at pointblank@orcasonline.com.
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
As a driving instructor, I spend all day long being aware of other drivers.
As far as I am concerned, 99% of all near-misses that I see, are due to people texting or using their cellphones.
Tony