JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri schools took the challenge to educate their peers and community about the importance of always buckling up and never driving distracted or impaired. More than 100 schools participated in this year’s “It Only Takes One” campaign, a competition to end unsafe driving habits.
Participating schools launched two surprise seat belt checks at each school to measure student seat belt use before and after an educational campaign. In addition, schools had the opportunity to submit a 30-second video spot to encourage their peers to adopt safe driving habits.
Fourteen schools won the educational campaign award for implementing very impactful and creative school and community outreach activities. The winning schools include: Bucklin High School, Putnam County High School, South Nodaway High School, Atlanta High School, Wright City High School, Cabool High School, Liberty Sr. High School, Calvary Lutheran High School, Fatima High School, Concordia High School, North Platte High School, Humansville High School, Marionville High School, and Washington High School.
Ten schools will receive statewide recognition for seat belt use that reached gold (99-100 percent), silver (95-98 percent) or bronze (91-94 percent) levels of seat belt use and will receive banners to display at the schools. Those schools include: Calvary Lutheran High School – GOLD, Atlanta High School – GOLD, Highland Jr. and Sr. High School – SILVER, Nodaway Holt Jr. and Sr. High School – SILVER, South Nodaway High School – SILVER, Wellsville High School – SILVER, Wright City High School – BRONZE, Bucklin High School – BRONZE, Noth Andrew High School – BRONZE, and Northwestern High School – BRONZE.
For the 30-second video competition, 22 videos were submitted. The top three winning videos were submitted by the following schools and can be viewed by visiting www.saveMOlives.com.
1st Place Washington High School
2nd Place Washington High School
3rd Place Bucklin High School
“We’re proud of our local schools for showing a commitment to always buckling up and never driving distracted or impaired.” said Kacey Buschjost, statewide coordinator for “It Only Takes One.”
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people 15-20 years old. Results of a 2016 survey among Missouri teens indicate 34 percent of teens are not wearing their seat belt putting them at greater risk to get killed or injured in traffic crashes. Seven out of 10 teens killed in Missouri traffic crashes are unbuckled.
Is your school ready to take the challenge to always drive safe and to buckle up, every trip, every time? Learn more at www.saveMOlives.com.
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