Safe Rides Emily, Arden, Kaya

The Issue: Drinking and Driving among teens in New Canaan Almost 100% of students surveyed admitted to either drinking and driving or being a passenger of a car driven by a drunk driver Over 3,000 teens die every year from accidents related to drunk driving New Canaan will not provide a Safe Rides program unless a tragedy related to drunk driving occurs in our town http://passaicnews.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/drunk-driver.jpg

What Could Potentially Happen… In 2007 in the state of CT alone there were: 16 Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities committed by kids under the age of 21 Additionally in 2007 in the state of CT there were: 98 arrests for drunk driving to kids UNDER the age of 18 http://behavioralhealth.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/20/jacqui_poster.jpg

What is Safe Rides? Safe rides is an organization run through the Red Cross (in most towns) that helps students avoid driving under the influence or being stuck with a driver that is under the influence Neighboring towns use this program (Stamford, Darien, Greenwich, Ridgefield, ect.) Most are student-run operations where students volunteer on Friday and Saturday nights to pick up other kids that need a safe ride home

Surveys When asked if they had either driven drunk and/ or been in a car with a drunk driver students of NCHS answered: 9th grade= 100% said yes 10th grade= 70% said yes 11th grade= 78% said yes 12th grade= 68% said yes When asked if they thought a Safe Rides program would be beneficial in our town, NCHS students answered: 10th grade= 80% said yes 11th grade= 93% said yes 12th grade= 100% said yes

Current Policies Currently, New Canaan does not have a program concerning drunk driving In the 90s, NC had a Safe Rides program through the Red Cross but discontinued it because of liability issues Greenwich, Ridgefield, Darien, Stamford, and many other neighboring towns have very successful Safe Rides programs through the Red Cross

NCPD Opinions We interviewed Officer Milligan on the idea of Safe Rides in New Canaan- agrees it is something that could benefit our town Police Dept. cannot be involved with it directly due to the fact that it conflicts the law When asked about teen drinking in NC, Milligan said that he believes our town is above average with the teen drinking rate Milligan also said: “If other towns are doing it and they haven’t had anything negative happen, then why should we wait to establish it in our town?”

Interview With Giovanni Torcasio (Lewis School of Driving Instructor) Many people will disagree with his views, but Giovanni believes that Safe Rides “is more beneficial than hurtful” “The # 1 killer among 16-24 year-olds is a car accident where drugs and alcohol are involved.” “Safe Rides doesn’t encourage teenage drinking, it encourages NOT drinking and driving.” http://www.car-accidents.com/pics/carphotos/3-11-04.jpg

Our Policy We propose that the Outback Teen Center serve as a headquarters for a Safe Rides program for New Canaan Rules for NC Safe Rides: -Run by student volunteers for Community Service hours, drivers work in partners -Teens cannot be dropped off at another party, they must be taken home or to wherever they’re spending the night -No alcohol or other substances may be brought onto the bus -Hours of operation would be from 10 PM to 1 AM on Friday and Saturday nights

Policy Continued Because of liability issues, New Canaan has been hesitant to reinstate a Safe Rides program (the Red Cross gave us a definite “no”) We came up with these additions to our Safe Rides Policy to avoid some of the liability issues: Parents must sign a waiver form allowing their child(ren) to be transported by the Safe Ride Staff Drivers would use a directory to ensure that they were driving kids to their actual home addresses

Alternative Policies and Support From Different Organizations Taxi-cards (Ridgefield uses this) Involve community-based groups such as SLOBS and the NCL chapters for volunteer drivers and organizers Possibly offer a set limit of rides per month (2 or 3) to compromise with parents that do not want the program for fear that teens will abuse it as an excuse to drink

Plan of Action Gather all information and statistics that we’ve collected Ask for additional support from community groups (such as SLOBS) Involve Jeb Walker (First Selectman) to support our cause Use this presentation to come before the Outback committee and other members of the community and propose our version of Safe Rides

Flow Chart of Our Progress

“High school kids are always going to to drink “High school kids are always going to to drink. And then they’re going to be faced with the decision to either drive or be driven drunk, or to make a call to someone sober to drive them home. With Safe Rides in New Canaan, you could save that one kid from making the wrong decision, and potentially save his life and the lives of others.” -Giovanni Torcasio http://images.townnews.com/glendalenewspress.com/content/articles/2007/05/24/publicsafety/gnp-assembly24.jpg