Shaftesbury High Titans wage war on impaired driving

Young drivers are more likely to be involved in traffic collisions than any other age group and have the highest involvement rate compared to all other age groups, says Manitoba Public Insurance. When new drivers are also impaired or speeding, their crash likelihood is compounded.

By the time you finish reading this article, someone will be dead or hurt as a result of an alcohol-related automobile accident.

Teens Against Drinking and Driving (T.A.D.D.) groups are made up of committed groups of students who want to educate their peers against the dangers of driving while impaired. Their message, from youth, for youth, is a powerful tool in the fight against impaired driving.

Titans Against Drunk Driving at Shaftesbury High School isn't out to change the world, just one mind.

We are a core group of students who want to see our student body "arrive alive." We want to see our entire graduating class grace that stage and say, 'I made it!' After a weekend break, we want everyone back in one piece so we won't ever have to say, "it's too bad they're gone."

We call ourselves Titans Against Drinking and Driving because here at Shaftesbury, we are the Titans. According to Greek mythology, Titans were great warriors; they were said to be more powerful than gods. Shaftesbury High School Titans have waged their own war against impaired driving.

Statistics show that one person is injured every five minutes because of impaired driving; one person is killed every seven hours. Given these stats, by the time you finish reading this article, someone will be dead or hurt as a result of an alcohol-related automobile accident.

Out of 200 Shaftesbury students polled last year, 60 percent risked his or her life, as well as the lives of others, by drinking and driving. These are your children, your youth, our country's future and our peers.

As a whole, we're trying to create an awareness that this is a problem and there is no quick fix. T.A.D.D. saw a need for information to be made available to our student body. Our group started by promoting National Students Against Impaired Driving Day (NSAID). More than 100 students signed commitment cards promising they wouldn't drink and drive. We distributed black ribbons in memory of those we have lost in impaired driving accidents. A school-wide proclamation was issued making the students aware of the issue and letting them know this was something to think about.

Currently we are looking into getting Motivational Media Assembly into our school to present Freeway, a presentation which focuses on how students have the ability to exercise freedom responsibly; that they have the freedom to refuse alcohol or refuse to drive home with someone who has been drinking.

Shaftesbury's Titans Against Drinking and Driving's message is clear: teenagers are not invincible, we are not bullet proof and we can't dodge death if we make the potentially destructive decision to drink and drive. We need to make the responsible choice and "arrive alive."

For more information about how to start a T.A.D.D. group in your school, contact Keith Thomas at the Manitoba Association of School Trustees (204) 233-1595.

* article provided by Titans Against Drinking and Driving, Shaftesbury High School - Published with permission from the Winnipeg Free Press