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Teen Driving Course
March 25, 2008 |
A trauma center is not a place where most people want to end up, especially if
you’re only a teenager. But research shows that 16 year-olds have a higher car
crash rate than any other population in the United States. Syndi Bultman is a
trauma nurse who works with Lee Memorial Health System’s trauma services. She
says, “We have a lot of crashes that involved younger drivers and we need to try
to educate them on what the real consequences are of the decisions that they
make when they are behind the wheel.” That’s exactly why Syndi is heading up
this new teen driving course at Lee Memorial Hospital. Part of the course is
dedicated to telling the stories of real teens that were killed or severely
injured in car crashes. “A vehicle is really a weapon because they’re six
thousand pounds or more and so we’re just trying to bring that to their
attention. We are really just trying to prevent people from having to use the
trauma center,” Syndi says. Dan Moser is an injury prevention specialist with
the Lee County Health Department. He says, “I think the fact that it’s through a
trauma center the folks who see the worst of the worst all the time the
perspective, people are going to realize it’s the real thing.” This is the first
course put on by the Lee Memorial Health System and other community
organizations like the Lee County Sheriff’s Department. The course covers
everything from road rage to inattentive driving. “There are a lot of kids who
are driving right now who aren’t wearing their seatbelts properly or they’re not
wearing them at all or they are text messaging or they are all talking on the
phone or they’re looking at the person in the back seat to talk to them,” says
Syndi. “They do have a lot on their mind they have the problem in inexperience
not realizing how quickly something can change if you’re not paying attention,”
says Dan. The teen safety classes will be held once a month free of charge. Both
parents and teens are encouraged to sign up to increase their safety. To sign up
for the course you can call 239-336-3797. 16 year olds are three times more
likely to die in a car crash than the average of all drivers. |
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