Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 15, 1990 TAG: 9004150254
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH EVANS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fifteen students died in Franklin County traffic accidents during the past three years, DMV spokeswoman Mary King said. That means that more teen-agers have died on Franklin County roads than in any other in the 26-county district, she said.
With those statistics in mind, Students Against Drunk Driving sponsor Jane Warren, an English teacher at Franklin County High, asked the DMV to sponsor the workshop.
Warren said the workshop, which the students voluntarily attended, was the culmination of a week of special activities intended to make students aware of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. And it comes just in time for prom season and summer break, when many accidents occur.
King said Franklin County probably has such a high fatality rate because it is a rural county with winding roads and "not a lot of night life."
Capt. Robert W. Strickler, chairman of the Franklin County Transportation Safety Commission and a member of the sheriff's department, said one reason for the accidents is the county's popularity among tourists. Out-of-state drivers flock to the county's lakes in the summer. More people mean more traffic and more accidents, Strickler said.
The workshop was designed to teach basic safety skills, such as using seat belts, and to build self-esteem that might help the students resist the peer pressure to drink, King said.
Some students appeared restless and talked among themselves during lectures by Strickler and by Del. Williard Finney, D-Rocky Mount. Finney explained how students could lose their driver's licenses or face delays in getting licenses if convicted of drugs offenses under the state's new "abuse it, lose it," laws.
But Steve Goodwin, district supervisor of DMV's Transportation Safety Division, managed to get the students' undivided attention as he taught them one of their first lessons of the day.
Goodwin led the students in singing lyrics from a James Brown song: "Wow, I feel good." A bad attitude behind the wheel, Goodwin explained to the students, is one of the first causes of traffic accidents.
Students had created several posters for the safe-driving workshop. The posters, placed on the walls in the workshop registration area, repeatedly warned onlookers "You booze, you lose."
Participants in Saturday's workshop also attended a free dance Saturday night, with pizza and drinks, non-alcoholic, donated by the Franklin County Sheriff's Department, DMV and SADD, Warren said. Students also received T-shirts, balloons, pencils and mints.
Franklin County sophomore Tim Witcher, 16, said he didn't have to be enticed into giving up his Saturday afternoon for the workshop. He is a member of Drug Abuse Resistance Education and attended the workshop to pick up pointers for DARE .
"It's a good way to learn ways to say no to drugs and to learn ways to persuade my friends to say no," Witcher said.
by CNB