Sending or looking at texts while driving takes about 4.6 seconds, which is the same time it takes to drive across an entire football field at 55 mph, according to stoptextsstopwrecks.org. Students can help prevent texting and driving by joining a contest to win a free car.

Operation Click has decided to promote safe, text free driving by giving away a car. In order to enter the contest, students have to sign a pledge that they will not text and drive.

“Who doesn’t love a free car? I think anyone in the school can use that,” Skylar Wilson, Operation Click member, said. “But we give away the car to show safe driving isn’t necessarily something people should look down upon. We’re just trying to promote that if you take part in safe driving, you can get rewarded for that and that it doesn’t go unnoticed.”

In years past, the club did not advertise as much, the 2016-2017 school year being the first to mention the contest on daily announcements. Not advertising resulted in less people pledging and entering the contest. This year, Operation Click decided to do their best to let everyone in the school know about this opportunity. The reward itself is tempting because there are a lot of students who need a car but they hope the pledging helps spread awareness, Wilson said.

“I can’t really afford a car for myself right now,” Sarah Shapero, senior, said. “It would be really nice to have a car to get me places and to get to school and go to places. I didn’t know about the pledge part prior to entering, but I was happy to sign since I don’t text and drive anyway.”

The way to sign up involves finding one of the many papers all around the school with the barcode and scanning it. Then the student will be required to fill in some information so the club can contact them if they win and pledge to drive safely. The student will have to be 16 years or older and have a valid license before April in order to be eligible to win the car.

“The point of the club is to promote safe driving, but the club isn’t just to repeat the [repetitive statements] like “don’t text and drive. Wear your seat belt,” Wilson said. “I think this contest is a reward to say to the people who pledge that like ‘hey we appreciate that you’re pledging not to text and drive.’”

Operation click is a nationwide organization that has a goal to keep everyone safe on the roads and tries to spread this message across the nation.

“I think [operation click and this contest are] important because [they] help prevent accidents all over Lake Zurich,” Shapero said. “Texting and driving is a real problem for this generation and it’s important to try and motivate everyone to be safe while driving.”