2. Where It Starts!
July 3, 2009, tragedy struck my
(Alyssa) family and the Gower,
Missouri, community. As Tyler Dale
Wilson, my only full sibling, was
headed to get his first paycheck on
his motorcycle everything took a
turn for the worse. Tyler was going
around a sharp curve as a truck was
going around the same curve. The
truck was on the wrong side of the
road. As family and friends gathered
at the hospital, the doctor
announced Tyler wouldn’t be going
home with us. He didn’t survive the
wreck.
3. How we found out about
YOUTH-Turn!
One day our FCCLA Advisor came up to us and asked
if we would be interested in doing a project about
youth driving safety. She knew what Alyssa had been
through, and she knew it would mean something to
Haylea, one of Alyssa’s closest friends. She showed us
the main part of what would need to be done. We
said we would do it and started brainstorming ideas.
4. Traffic Safety Adversity Addressed
The issues we addressed using YOUTH-Turn were:
distracted driving, staying on your side of the road,
and wearing your seat belt.
We already have plans to address motorcycle
awareness and distracted driving in the summer of
2012.
5. Peer to Peer Education
In our project we used a “Seat Belt Check” as our
Peer to Peer Education. Prior to this, we handed out
the YOUTH-Turn survey asking our peers at East
Buchanan High School (EBHS) if they knew what
distracted driving was and what kinds of distractions
affected their driving.
The survey showed most of the students in our
community buckle their seat belt after they begin
driving, use their cell phone, text, and change the
radio station while driving.
6. YOUTH-Turn Resources Used
In our project we used many of the resources YOUTH-Turn
offered.
We began with the survey to evaluate the concerns within
our population.
We used the bracelets, key chains, and pens in our seatbelt
check with the high school students.
We also used the tattoos and pins for the teaching of
children grades kindergarten through second grade at East
Buchanan Elementary School (EBES).
YOUTH-turn helped us teach others the dangers of
distracted driving and wearing our seat belts.
7. Collaboration and Outreach Efforts
We chose to collaborate with our local elementary
teachers to educate young students about the
importance of wearing seat belts and the dangers of
not wearing a seat belt. We made seat belt covers for
our kindergarten through second grade students. We
wanted them to be involved and have something to
take home as a reminder to always wear their seat
belts. They were awarded the seat belt covers if they
correctly answered questions about the presentation.
8. Resources Used/Created
We used the following resources: YOUTH-Turn
materials and information, Animoto website, EBHS
and EBES students and faculty.
We created the following resources: Animoto Video
Presentation, and Seat belt Animals.
9. Media Efforts & Promotion of Youth
Traffic Safety
http://animoto.com/play/s0syisZilRo161caZBUr3A
As a way to get the word about motorcycle safety
awareness out we plan to host a Tyler Dale Wilson
memorial trap shoot.
We will also be putting the pictures from our project
in the local “Rural Reporter”.
10. The Conclusion.
As we finish this project, we hope the students at EBHS
understand the importance of wearing their seat belts and
paying attention to the road. We also hope the EBES
students learned about seat belt safety from our
presentation and will share it with their parents.
Even though April 30th is the deadline for the project, we
feel it is important to continue to encourage students to
wear their seat belts and avoid distracted driving.
