How are we going to stop our kids from killing themselves?

What will it take?

How will we reach them to show them their lives are at stake?

What can we do to make them understand that when you combine youth and cars with any combination of speed, drugs and alcohol you have a lethal combination?

That crushed bones and damaged brains and death are a high price to pay for a little “fun”.

We have spent the past decade talking to youth, sending a message, offering proof that kids are vulnerable, that cars do kill, we sent out the message, we send it still.

We send the message in creative ways, in mock accidents, dry grads and Party celebrations.

We use hypnotists, doctors, police officers, parents and victims to bring the same message:

That youth and cars when combined with speed, drugs and alcohol form a lethal combination.

But do our youth hear us or are we drowned out by the glamorization of the screeching of tires and the thrill of speed that comes across the movie screens?

When we license our kids to drive powerful cars they can’t handle?

When we let them drive souped-up junkers redesigned for speed?

When new cars are built and designed to break all legal speed limits?

When prominent people break our laws and do the things we say not to do?

Does that negate our message; does it block it from getting through?

How do we overcome that, what do we do?

Our kids are dying at the rate of two per week.

Is that something we can live with?

Or is there another answer we can seek.

The government is going to change the laws, and that’s good.

But is that all we have to do to solve the problem?

If that was true it would be a miracle.

But it isn’t true; it is going to take more, so much more.

Before our youth will get a message they can’t ignore.

It’s our job to keep them safe and we’re failing.

It will take all of us working together to save them.

It’s a job we must share if we are to be successful.

Parents, I ask you to talk about this with your kids and together as a family come up with an individual solution.

The rest of us must set a better example and find a way to prove that what matters to us is our kids and their futures.

Not fast cars, and speed and breaking the rules.

No one of us can do this alone but together we can make a difference.

Joan Parsons
President
Rid Roads of Impaired Drivers

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