Schools promote safe driving awareness

Activities which promote safe driving are planned at two Union County high schools.

The activities will be taking place at Anna-Jonesboro Community High School and at Shawnee High School at Wolf Lake.

Organizers of the events hope that by emphasizing the importance of safe driving, Illinois drivers will actually get in the habit of practicing safe driving.

Anna-Jonesboro Community High School

Driving Safety Week is being observed at Anna-Jonesboro Community High School.

Activities began Saturday, Jan. 28, and continue through Friday, Feb. 3.

Activities kicked off last Saturday with an event during halftime at an A-JCHS boys' basketball game. Special activities continued on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and also will be held Thursday, today, and Friday. (For a complete schedule of activities, see From the Wildcat Lair on the back page of Section B in this week's paper.)

This Friday, businesses/local police/state police plan to set up booths in the lower gymnasium at A-JCHS for the kids to get involved in activities/receive materials. 

They will be set up all day and the kids will come down on their study halls to view the materials and participate in the activities. A guest speaker on Friday will talk about the impact of distracted driving.

Throughout the week, the students in drivers’ education will be working from the Ford Driving Skills Curriculum that was provided to the school.

The students at Anna Junior High/Elementary are also working on posters/poems in their schools and we will be hanging those around the high school during the safety week. The hallways at the school will also be turned into highways.

Shawnee High School, Wolf Lake

The junior class at Shawnee High School has been participating in a grant program with the Illinois Department of Transporttion, Allstate and Ford to try to raise driver safety awareness.

Special activities are planned during the week of Feb. 11-18 to help in the effort.

The Grim Reaper is scheduled to pay a visit to Shawnee High School on Feb. 8.

Over the past two months, there has been a poster contest and an essay contest.

Trooper Bridget Rice with the Illinois State Police has visited the school twice to speak about driver safety.

At homecoming on Jan. 14, items with the message "Shoot for Safety" were distributed to community members.

Now, the school is entering the final phase of the current awareness program.

A memorial display will be put up in front of the school to remember the teenagers who were injured or lost their lives in traffic accidents in 2010.

On Feb. 8, the Grim Reaper periodically will be visiting classrooms at the high school.

Students then will be bandaged or painted to mimic possible injuries

from vehicle accidents in 2010.

Trooper Rice is scheduled to give an "Under the Influence" presentation to individual classrooms throughout the day.

An assembly for students is planned at 2 p.m. that day.

Students have used the resources at the Operation Teen Safe Driving website to create posters and essays for a competition at the school.

Gift certificates will be presented to the first-, second- and third-place poster and essay contest winners.

Junior high school students will be working in teams to design t-shirts with a safe driving message.

The school's AV team is creating a Redskin Report on driver safety. The report is slated to air the week following the assembly and will be linked to YouTube.

A page also has been designated on the school's website which is dedicated to driver safety.

Students have had the Ford Driving Skills for Life program aired through TV systems at the school during their student advisory time.