Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools November 2013 | Page 8

Piedmont High students learn about driving safety

With the help of about 30 local law enforcement and safety personnel who volunteered their time to help make a difference in the lives of local teenagers,
Piedmont High School students got a first-hand look at the dangers of distractive driving.
The harsh reality of texting while driving and other types of distractive driving were illustrated in a mock fatal car accident demonstration with the help
of the Union County Sheriff’s Office, Unionville Volunteer Fire Department and Union
County EMS.
Approximately 600 Piedmont juniors and seniors were able to participate – many
visibly moved by the demonstration.
“VIP for a VIP’s mission is to bring the sights, sounds and smells of a fatal
vehicle accident to the doorstep of high school students in a dramatic way in hopes
of embedding the consequences of these often senseless events into the minds of
teenage drivers,” said Lisa Callaham, from UCPS Support and Prevention Department.
“Their vision is that, at the end of the day, students will have a realistic picture of
what can happen as a result of one moment of inattention,” she said.
The program was born following the tragic death of a teen driver in 1998. Two
firefighters, Steve Zimmerman and Larry Cockman, who were at the scene of that
deadly crash, came up with VIP for a VIP, an acronym for Vehicle Injury Prevention for
a Very Important Person.
This driving safety awareness program was designed to bring the reality of what
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