“I don’t know how I’m alive. Without my seatbelt, I would easily be dead,” Matt O’Connor said, reflecting on a June car accident for which he is still in therapy for.
Because of his accident, O’Connor is encouraging everyone to take part in State Farm’s Celebrate My Drive Week sponsored by Operation Click. Each commitment during the week of October 18-26 adds to the chances of LZHS winning grant money and a Kelly Clarkson concert.
Car crashes are the number one cause of teen fatalities in North America, according to State Farm’s website. Celebrate My Drive is a week-long nationwide event dedicated to encouraging drivers to commit to making smart driving decisions. This week is not just to encourage safe driving for teen drivers, but for every driver in the community.
“We want [everyone] to be more aware of the importance of driving safely in our community and how irresponsible actions can affect others on the road,” Meghan Reynolds, English teacher and Operation Click sponsor, said. “[Drivers need to] be more aware of how to drive safely so we can keep our entire community safe [on the road]. We really want people to make those safe driving choices when they’re behind the wheel.”
O’Connor and Olive Carey, senior echo Reynolds’ sentiments and learned first-hand the importance of safe driving.
“I was in a rollover car accident with [O’Connor] and seatbelts are what our lives,” Carey said. “We joined [Operation Click] because we [want to] try to save others.”
Driving one night, Carey caught the side of the road that was filled with potholes and swerved into the other lane, towards an oncoming car. Swerving again to avoid hitting the other car, Carey hit the potholes once more and overcorrected too fast. O’Connor and Carey flipped three times, the car landing in the grass on the side of the road.
Carey and O’Connor survived this potentially fatal car crash with no serious injuries’, although O’Conner is currently in therapy for a sprained neck and Carey had to get stitches on her head and had road burn. Both agreed that being in this accident reinforced how important safety habits are and how dangerous vehicles can be.
“Before the accident I never wore my seatbelt, and honestly I don’t remember putting it on the night [of the accident]. But ever since the accident, it’s the first thing I do when I get in my car,” O’Conner said. “Safe driving is so important because you’re not just putting your life at risk; you’re putting others at risk, too.”
Celebrate My Drive is a week to reinforce the importance of those basic driving habits taught in Drivers’ Education: wear your seatbelt, have both eyes on the road, and keep hands on the wheel. Actions like these can save a life, like it did for Carey and O’Connor.
This is the second annual Celebrate My Drive event, but this is the school’s first time participating in it. Students and members of the community can go to the Celebrate My Drive event page, and submit their pledge to safe drive; each pledge further increases the school’s chance of winning. LZHS is competing with 3,171 other high schools.
As another reinforcement of safe driving within the high school, Operation Click is doing “Student of the Month” starting this month. Each month, two names of students who have signed the pledge to drive safely will be pulled from a raffle and receive a parking spot by the field house.
Safe driving is always important for drivers to remember to do every time their behind the wheel; not just for this week. These habits can not only save your life, but also somebody else’s.
“You should never put yourself and especially someone else’s life in danger,” Carey said. “Vehicles are a dangerous machine, so we must use them responsibly.”