My teenage daughter, Dakota, and I were invited to attend the Drive Safe Challenge last week in Tampa, Florida sponsored by Mercury Insurance and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Drive Safe Challenge was developed to help reduce, or even stop, teen driver accidents and deaths.
Dakota and I arrived around 9:00 a.m. at the Amalie Arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning play and honestly, had no idea what to expect. We assumed we would probably learn a few tips about safe driving and meet a couple hockey players.
Well, I have to say, the experience is a lot more than expected. We were having so much fun and were so interested in what we were learning that we didn’t even get a chance to say hi to the hockey players.
Here’s what we took away from the Drive Safe Challenge:
- We learned important driving skills to regain control of your vehicle- should you begin to lose control due to bad weather conditions or unexpected situations.
- Distracted driving is very dangerous. Over 183 fatal teen accidents were caused by kids using their phones while driving. The teens had to drive a course while texting and found it impossible to stay within the lines of the course.
- The kids had to wear Drunk Driving Goggles (alcohol impairment simulation goggles) and drive a car, walk a straight line and more. As a parent, I am glad that my daughter experienced what it is like to drive while under the influence of alcohol and experience how impossible it is to drive much less walk.
Since our experience at the Mercury Drive Safe Challenge, Dakota and I have become much more aware of our surroundings while driving, are paying more attention to the road, and spotting a lot of other drivers who are texting while driving or on their phones. How do we spot them so easily? They are weaving in out of their lanes and not paying attention.
We both feel that this program was invaluable and would love to see this take place at every high school in the country!
The best part of the entire experience is that we had a great mother daughter day, learned a lot, and had a lot of fun in the process!
Thanks for the invite, Mercury Insurance!
Now over to you…
How often do you see distracted drivers on the road? Would you take your teenager to a program like this?
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