Teen Safe Driving Promoted in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio

The Allstate Foundation presented a $30,000 grant to Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) to assist SAVE chapters in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio in their efforts to increase youth safety and promote teen safe driving. This grant from the Allstate Foundation will support the SAVE program in schools and community agencies. Teen safe driving awareness campaigns will be conducted during key times of the year including back-to-school, holidays, Teen Safe Driving Month (May), prom, and graduation.

With support from Allstate agents and employee volunteers, SAVE chapters will be able to provide leadership in their schools and communities to ensure that all students will be encouraged and empowered with healthy life skills while engaging in educational activities and opportunities to promote teen safe driving and youth safety.

SAVE is a peer-to-peer organization that focuses on the power of positive peer influences. According to a recent Allstate Foundation survey, Shifting Teen Attitudes: The State of Teen Driving 2009, peers are a major influence on teens – both positive and negative. Some of the concerning statistics that SAVE chapters will address include:

• Eighty-two percent of teens reported using cell phones while driving. 
• Nearly half (48 percent) of girls admit they are likely to speed more than 10 mph over the limit, versus 36 percent of boys. 
• Seventy-seven percent of teens admit they have felt unsafe with another teen's driving.

“This generous grant from The Allstate Foundation will assist students in finding real solutions to the issues of teen safe driving that they face each day,” stated SAVE’s executive director, Carleen Wray.

Previous assistance from The Allstate Foundation has benefited SAVE schools in North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Nevada, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin, California, Colorado, and Ohio.

“By empowering teens to become smart driving activists in their schools and communities, we hope to reverse the staggering statistics,” said Thomas Clarkson, Allstate vice president. “Through The Allstate Foundation, we seek to develop innovative, teen-focused approaches to raise awareness of the issue and, ultimately, to help save lives and reduce injuries.”

About the National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere: 

SAVE started at West Charlotte High School in Charlotte, N.C. in 1989 following the tragic death of a student who was trying to break up a fight at an off-campus party. Students met first to console each other, then as an organization to promote violence prevention and to work together to prevent future incidents from occurring.  SAVE provides education about the effects and consequences of violence and helps provide safe activities for students, parents and communities. For more information on SAVE or starting a SAVE chapter, visit www.nationalsave.org, or contact SAVE at (866) 343-SAVE to receive free start-up materials and guidance.