Kutztown High School Students Against Destructive Decisions lobbied Sen. David Argall about teen driving and distracted driving laws during a recent visit to Harrisburg.
Seniors Amanda Rice, David Schucker, Trista Smith and Tias Weaver had a chance to lobby the senator about House bills updating the Graduated Drivers Licensing (three-stages to granting young drivers full license privileges) and distracted driving laws.
“Whenever you get your permit, we wanted to start them out with only having one passenger for the first six months with the permit and then have three after that,” said Rice.
“Pennsylvania just needs to get rid of all texting for novice drivers 16 to 18 year olds,” said Smith.
Schucker explained these are bills that are in discussion, led by State Rep. Katharine Watson. The bills have not been proposed yet. He said both would involve incentive federal grants, one being $1.3 million and the other $2.4 million, for educating teens and parents of teen drivers.
“We informed him on the updates for the GDL law and distracted driving … it’s good to have safe roads and increase the safety of people traveling and sharing the road would be a benefit to Pennsylvania,” said Schucker. “He expressed interest in the bills.”
Schucker added that for those who don’t think the laws affect them, he said, “They need to realize that you share the road with everybody who’s on it, whether it’s teens who are just starting to drive or even people who just get their license. There’s that learning period. We need to make the road as safe as possible so we can prevent accidents and especially distracted driving incidents.”
The students shared what it was like lobbying their senator at his Harrisburg office.
“It was a little intimidating but it was really rewarding getting to tell him how we thought about everything,” said Rice. “I can see all of the things that we can change in the community, just seeing how everyone drives. We can probably really help our community a lot.”
“(Sen. David Argall) was very nice. I think it was a really great experience. He seemed really interested in what were saying which was really nice,” said Weaver.
“I thought it was rewarding. Last year in high school we get to do something like that, meet with the senator,” said Smith. “I feel a little better about the safety for our community, now that there will be better laws for novice drivers. I would feel a lot safer if these changes were made.”
The students requested a follow up meeting with Argall at his Hamburg office.
The Kutztown students also attended the Pennsylvania Teen Safety Summit, a DUI/Distracted Driving Conference in Harrisburg. They said that they were there to be educated on updates on the Graduated Drivers Licensing (last enacted in 2008 for 16 to 18 year olds) and distracted driving laws. The conference also included driving in a DUI simulator.
KHS SADD meet weekly on Wednesdays. Many of the same students are involved in Kutztown Strong which meets Thursdays.
“Our entire purpose is, as the title says, we’re against destructive decisions, be that actual abuse of drugs or alcohol or anything involving mental illnesses as well. We’re trying to raise awareness as well as the dangerous aspects of it,” said KHS senior SADD member Rebecca Sylvernale.
SADD will display a wrecked vehicle outside the high school at the marquee the week of prom. Every four years they host Operation Arrive Alive which is a live simulated crash scene involving Kutztown students after driving impaired or distracted. Assisting at the scene are police, EMS, firefighers and the coroner.
“From a teacher’s perspective, I think it’s a perfect organization to compliment what we already have going on with Kutztown Strong and a number of the other clubs that are interested in the general well being of the student population,” said Josh Chambers, SADD co-advisor with Tom Miller.
He likes that SADD is nationally accredited and it’s established.
“It’s a known organization that’s had years of support and there’s available resources just because of its established credibility, that we can take kids to these conferences, and it’s usually all subsidized by the organization. So basically, for next to nothing we can give these kids an experience and then they can go out and help their peers.”
There are about 12 to 15 students, mostly sophomores and seniors, involved in SADD. He anticipates participation to grow in the future with the addition of the middle school students currently working with Kris Tuerk on The Cougar Chronicle.
KHS Assistant Principal Dr. Edward Myers said, “What we’re looking to do is get our students out, getting them engaged and getting them to be leaders in a lot of different ways … So this is one key piece of that.”
