SADD seat belt survey postponed

Hannah Heger, Features Editor

Distracted driving can be a problem for any high school but Students Against Destructive Decisions is determined to change the students of Manhattan High School’s bad driving habits. To do so, SADD does seat belt surveys to figure out the percentage of students who drive distracted.
SADD participates in two seat belt surveys a year to see the progress they have made throughout the school year.

“We have done one seatbelt survey. It was fairly successful because people instinctively wear their seatbelts,” Ashley Savage, SADD co-president, said. “However, cell phone use or distractions were our main contributors of ‘failure.’ We base our surveys off of two main things, are [there] any passengers wearing seat belts and are they distracted or driving safely?”

While most clubs try not to postpone any activities, the SADD officers made the decision to cancel their seatbelt survey.

“We determined it was way too cold for our members to be outside longer then what was recommended by weather reports,” Savage said. “Our officers are still deciding a good date. Either next week or even possibly the end of next month.”

Even though SADD was unable to accomplish their seatbelt check they are still hopeful that their seatbelt pledges will leave an important impact on the student body.

“We hope that by doing our monthly seatbelt pledges that our peers have been more impressed to wear their seatbelts,” Savage said. “However, we are not sure that our school is improving. The biggest contributor is distractions. From loud music, to FaceTiming/talking on the phone, texting, etc.”

These pledges provide students an opportunity to earn rewards for doing something as simple as putting on a seat belt.

“We have done four and all have been super successful. All you do is pledge to wear your seatbelt and are put in a drawing for gift cards from Ulta, Starbucks, Target, Burger King, etc,” Savage said. “We draw for gift cards up to $100. We will be doing another one in February.”

With all of the activities SADD does to provide the students knowledge about distracted driving they will still try to change MHS’s driving habits.

“We are hoping in the next few months to raise awareness for distracted driving and how much an impact it has on our community and school,” Savage said. “However, we believe that our school will change by the end of this school year.”