Traffic Safety: How Safe Are North High Students?

North High School FCCLA Chapter Project: Traffic Safety

By Julia Arriaga and Zai Na Bee

Learning to drive is an important milestone in anyone’s life. Being able to drive gives teens the sense of freedom that helps them grow from teens to adults, giving them the power to be independent. However, driving isn’t such a simple skill to learn. Driving can become devastating quickly, being the leading cause of accidental death in teens, as stated by the CDC. We’ve asked over nine hundred of our students regarding their traffic safety choices and knowledge to estimate our students’ safety and create need-based learning materials, and show the importance of being safe while driving and on the road. 

How safe are North High students as passengers?

According to our studies, only 82% of students wear their seatbelts, with only 43% wearing them when they’re with their parents or friends, which is less than the Ohio State average of 85% compliance.

This leaves at least 18% of our students subjected to additional potential injuries in the event of a motor vehicle accident. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, 61% of fatal vehicle accidents are those with drivers and passengers without seatbelts. These statistics prove the risks our students take, and the importance of teaching our students about the potential dangers of not wearing a seatbelt. Not only is the risk of being severely injured in a car accident possible when not wearing your seatbelt, but fines and tickets are also very possible. As stated by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, over 350,000 seatbelt tickets were administered in only 5 years, totaling at least $7,000,000 in fines that could have been easily avoided. In order to help our students avoid these potential dangers, we’ve placed posters around the school building describing the risks and rules to remind our students of safety precautions. 

Additionally, in our posters, we’ve included reminders for driving safety, which leads us to our next topic: 

How safe are North High students as drivers?

    As stated by our research regarding traffic safety, 96% of our students know how to be safe on the road. This is great considering that, as stated before, motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of accidental death in teens. Even though there is a small fraction of our students who can or are old enough to drive, knowledge of traffic safety rules and potential dangers is still important for everyone. Knowing what behaviors can lead to accidents can also help our students stay safe and be aware of potentially dangerous drivers. 
Along with our studies, we’ve asked our students about their experiences with other young drivers. An estimated total of 40% of our students have experienced being in a car with another young driver who was texting, eating or drinking, and changing a CD or radio station, along with a total of 31% stating that they have also experienced a young driver speeding. 

These results give us further insight into the safety precautions our students practice. Along with making posters with seat belt reminders and facts, we’ve also included reminders for basic traffic safety including distracted driving, 

Our conclusion:

North High students have reported that the majority of them are safe on the road and can detect unsafe behaviors. But, there is always room for improvement!

We aim to teach our fellow students the importance of wearing seatbelts and practicing traffic safety precautions as drivers and passengers. With our efforts, we hope to show improvement in our school’s results. Together, we can make a difference and help our students be safe and responsible drivers.