Campus group organizes safety campaign
A group of 10 students and a member from Zero Fatalities displayed their texting and driving awareness campaign presentation known as “Txt L8tr” next to the Business Building March 23.
Lora Hudson, a Zero Fatalities outreach coordinator, said using a phone while driving can impair a driver’s reactions.
“Texting while driving is the same as if you had a blood alcohol level of (.16). So it’s as if you had double the legal alcohol limit for adults in your body,” Hudson said. “People die all the time from distractions in general.”
The group had a table set up with a poster that stated: “With this thumb I commit to keep both hands on the wheel.” The group provided an ink pad for passers-by to leave a thumb or fingerprint to pledge support.
Students involved in Txt L8tr are part of management 3110, the business class that usually sponsors yearly SEED fundraisers. Justin Berry, a student involved in Txt L8tr, said this year the class focuses on organizing local service projects rather than raising money.
Also on display was a page dedicated to Taylor Sauer, a USU student who recently died after the vehicle she was driving reportedly crashed into a semitrailer at 88 mph. According to a press release from Idaho State Police, Sauer used her cell phone extensively throughout the fatal trip.
Hudson said the Txt L8tr group told her it wanted to do the project in honor of Sauer when it first contacted her.
“Anything that takes your eyes off the road for one second can cause exactly what happened here with the Utah State student,” Hudson said.
As a part of the display, the group set up a row of cones through which people could ride two Big Wheel bikes to simulate the effect of texting while driving.
Hudson said many would try the obstacle course first without texting, realize it was hard and then while texting realize it’s even harder.
“It’s hard enough as it is, but add a distraction, including texting and driving – especially texting and driving, really – and it’s that much harder,” Hudson said.
When people who tried the course ran over a cone, Tyler Parker, a deputy with the Cache County Sheriff’s Office, would start up the siren on his undercover cop car.
Hudson said she appreciated Parker’s double role as a student and a deputy.
“I think that it’s great that they got a deputy here, too, to add that credibility, as well. It’s always good to have law enforcement at this kind of a thing,” Hudson said.
Many of the people who stopped to pledge shared stories with the group. Among them was Alicia Grunig, a pre-nursing student at USU.
“Back in October, I was driving home from my choir and talking to my husband on a speaker-free phone,” Grunig said. “I went through a light that was green, another girl was distracted with her cell phone, and she ran the red light,, and I didn’t see her until right when we hit.”
Grunig said because of the crash, she no longer touches her phone while driving and feels that if she hadn’t been on the phone, she would’ve seen the other driver sooner and avoided the accident.
“I think that it affects the students and the community, showing what the dangers are of texting and driving, distracted driving and even impaired driving,” Grunig said.
Parker said Txt L8tr may help people understand that police can’t completely prevent distracted driving.
“I want the students to understand that this isn’t something that law enforcement can fix by writing tickets,” Parker said. “It’s something that people have to choose to do. And they have to choose to do it so they don’t hurt other people or themselves in the process.”
Berry said the group’s most difficult challenge was coming up with a target audience.
The group will continue to work with the project through local businesses, such as the Ellen Eccles Theatre, through the end of the semester, Berry said.
“We’ll hit it heavy the next two weeks, and that will be it as far as this class goes, but Zero Fatalities will continue to be around, and we’ll keep referring people back to them,” Berry said.
Ron Welker is a career acceleration specialist in the Huntsman School of Business and the instructor of management 3110. Welker said the class is divided into groups of 10-11 students, and each group is assigned a service project.
“We study all different functions of management such as planning, organizing, leading and controlling,” Welker said.
Hudson said she was impressed with the project. The problem of texting and driving can be fixed only through awareness and people personally making the change, she said.
Parker said he thought the campaign event had a good turnout.
“People were excited about it,” Parker said. “They had no problems jumping in and participating. I hope that those that pledged really do keep their promise and don’t text and drive.”
– juliann13stock@aggiemail.usu.edu