SULTAN — A small lapse in judgment can turn a car into a weapon, especially for inexperienced drivers.
People in Sultan have seen too many teens lose their lives in car accidents, Sultan Police Chief Jeff Brand said.
Sultan police have been working with city and school leaders to brin
g “Driving It Home” to town for the first time this weekend.
“Driving It Home” is a free program put on by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. It’s targeted at teen drivers and their parents.
It includes a review of serious local wrecks. The cops go over each crash in detail before family members describe their experiences losing someone in a traffic fatality.
It features a staged crash where a car traveling up to 35 mph hits a mannequin-pedestrian named Ben. People can see how severely the impact affects both Ben and the vehicle.
The program started in 2006 after a spike in traffic fatalities, sheriff’s detective Doug Gold said. Police wanted a safe way to show teens the reality of what happens on Snohomish County roads.
His colleagues at the sheriff’s office say Gold is “the godfather” of the program.
Gold is excited to bring “Driving It Home” to east county, he said. It’s set for 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Sultan High School, 13725 310th Ave. SE.
Sultan students stepped up and asked for the program, Brand said. They already had traffic safety education programs in place, but students really wanted “Driving It Home.”
“Our detectives were pretty excited about the opportunity to bring it out here,” he said.
Traffic deaths hit hard in Sultan, where everyone knows each other, Mayor Carolyn Eslick said. Teens just don’t get driving experience with farm equipment like her generation did.
Sheriff’s deputy Tom Dittoe is the school resource officer for the Sultan School District. He recommends “Driving It Home” for anyone with children who are old enough to drive or who will be soon, he said.
The program makes traffic safety personal, he said. It helps young drivers understand the responsibility — and the gravity — of getting behind the wheel.
Teaching teens to drive safely is just as important as preventing criminal violence, Brand said. He’s seen too many bad crashes to think or feel otherwise.
The lessons of “Driving It Home” are close to the hearts of cops and firefighters who get called out to serious crashes, he said.
The program makes even experienced drivers stop and think about their driving, Gold said. He gets letters from parents and other grown-ups who were surprised by how much they were affected.
“I wish somehow we could get everyone through it at least once or twice,” he said.
All of the crashes described in “Driving It Home” either occurred locally or had a local impact through victims’ families and friends, he said.
There also will be various traffic-safety giveaways, including two free DriveCams with year-long service contracts. DriveCams are small cameras that link up to your rearview mirror, Gold said. They kick on and start recording if a car abruptly accelerates or brakes. The cameras record what’s going on outside the car and inside the car.
In addition, everyone who attends will get a free one-month trial of txtBlocker, a technology that blocks texting if a cell phone is moving along at a certain speed. Several one-year contracts will be raffled off as well.
“Driving It Home” is not appropriate for small children, Gold said. Everyone else is welcome.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com
Traffic safety
What: “Driving It Home,” a free traffic safety education program
When: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Sultan High School, 13725 310th Ave. SE
Who: Teens and their parents in east Snohomish County, including Sultan, Gold Bar and Monroe.
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