By Marianne Christy
Town of Webb high school students and members of the community will have the opportunity to experience first-hand the devastating effects of driving under the influence of alcohol and distracted driving when the Save A Life Tour, an international safe driving program, comes to the school on Monday, March 2 for an all-day educational seminar.
Sponsored by MAC’s Safe Ride and area businesses, the Save a Life Tour provides state-of-the-art interactive drunk or distracted driving simulation that offers participants a completely realistic perspective of how alcohol or texting impairs driving skills.
Gisele Kress, MAC’s Safe Ride co-founder, spearheaded the effort to bring Save A Life to Webb School, receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from Superintendent Rex Germer and Principal John Swick.
The day will include two assemblies, one at 9:15 a.m. and the other at 1:15 p.m.
Facilitators will explain the program and provide a brief talk on the dangers of unsafe driving, show videos of car accident scenes, and offer details on how the simulator works.
Among those who will be assisting with the educational portion of the program will be TOW School Prevention Counselor Brendan McGrath, and personnel from the Herkimer County Stop DWI Program, the NYS DOT and the Department of Defense.
Kress will also be actively involved and present throughout the day.
The assemblies will be followed by the hands-on portion of the program whereby individuals will experience first-hand devastating effects of driving under the influence of alcohol, distracted driving such as texting, driving while sleepy, non-usage of seat belts…basically all aspects of unsafe driving. Programming will run through 4 p.m.
“We highly encourage students’ families and area residents to attend either of the assemblies and experience the simulators for themselves. Statistics show that distracted driving has almost surpassed drunk driving as the cause of accidents. As a community we all need to be aware…we are all in this together,” she said.
Kress is grateful for the positive support MAC’s Safe Ride has received thus far in bringing the Save A Life Tour to Town of Webb.
Though costly, it provides the nation’s most advanced high-impact alcohol awareness and distracted driving simulator.
Any business or organization that would like to join MAC’s and others in making a financial contribution can call Kress at (315) 369-5383 or send a donation to: MAC’s Safe Ride, P.O. Box 888, Old Forge, NY 13420.
In the past four years, Save A Life Tour has been presented to students at over 1,500 colleges and 300 high schools across the country. More information can be found online or facebook.