Friends Don’t Let Friends
Drive Distracted

Contest Brief

SADD/Lear Corporation and EndDD.org 2021 Video and Meme/GIF Contest

Teens have the power to influence other teens in many positive ways, including safe driving. Distracted driving is now believed to be involved in more than 50% of serious teen crashes. So what can teens do to keep themselves and their peers safe from distracted driving crashes? Teens can take their energy, enthusiasm and imagination to create life-saving messages that will resonate with other teens to make distracted driving socially unacceptable.

Students from SADD affiliated high schools and colleges are eligible to submit videos up to 1 minute in length, or memes/GIFs (less than 10 seconds) that focus on the topics set forth below. The contest includes elementary and middle school students, who may submit memes or Gifs. Separate prizes will be awarded for college and high school student videos and memes, and middle school and elementary school memes as set forth below.

Topics to be Addressed in Videos and Memes/GIFs.

The following are suggested issues that can be explored for contest submissions. One of the judging criteria will be the extent to which the suggested issues are referenced, utilized or incorporated into submissions. It is not likely that students who submit entries that are not responsive will be considered for the 1st place prizes. Where studies or surveys are cited students may, but are not required, to refer to those studies or surveys.

1. Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Distracted – Friends don’t let friends drive drunk-we all know that and have been taught that for years. But If we care about our friends or family shouldn’t we speak up when we see them driving distracted? More teens will be injured or killed from distracted driving than drunk driving, with 58% of serious teen crashes caused by distraction. Students can keep each other safe simply by asking friends to drive safer. These surveys show just how effective students can be in helping friends to drive safer:In 2012, AT&T and Connect Safely conducted a survey of teen drivers and found:

• 78% of teen drivers said they would not text and drive if friends told them it was wrong or stupid
• 90% said they would stop if a friend in the car asked them to
• 44% said they would be thankful if a passenger complained about their texting while driving
• A 2016 AT&T survey found that 57% of drivers would stop using their phones while driving if asked by a friend

2. Respectful drivers don’t drive distracted. – Respect is a core value for many of us. Is there anything at all respectful about drivers texting, snapping or scrolling through music on our phones with passengers, or while sharing the road with others?  Respect includes the “ Golden Rule,” or treating others the way we want to be treated. A recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey found that drivers believed, as compared with 3 years earlier,  that the biggest problem on our highways was  distracted driving, 87.5%, compared with drunk and drugged driving, at about 55%.  When asked what the  most serious threat to their personal safety was, almost 97% said drivers texting or e-mailing. However, in the past 30 days, 44.9% of drivers had read a text message or email while driving, and 34.6% of drivers typed or sent a text message or email. Additional information about respect and distracted driving can be found at https://www.legalexaminer.com

3. Distracted drivers can’t be defensive drivers – Distracted drivers are the leading highway safety concern for many of us. As drivers it is our prime responsibility to keep ourselves and our passengers safe. Defensive drivers anticipate potential hazards by scanning the road and leaving enough room between them and other cars to be able to avoid crashes when other drivers make mistakes. Defensive driving requires us to look at the road and not at our phones so that we can identify hazards and take measures to avoid crashes.  SPIDER, is an acronym for all that is necessary to be defensive drivers. https://www.enddd.org/distracted-driving-research/rethinking-defensive-driving-light-distracted-driving/

Prizes

There will be three winners for the video contest and five winners for the meme/GIF contest. Prizes for each are listed below.

High School (9^th-12^th grade) and College Entries

Video Contest Prizes

• • First Place – $5,000 AND $500 will be donated in the name of the winning students to a non-profit organization (IRS 501c3) chosen by the winning student/team.
  • Second Place – $2,500
  • Third Place – $1,000

Meme/GIF Contest Prizes

• First Place – $2,500 AND $500 will be donated in the name of the winning students to a non-profit organization (IRS 501c3) chosen by the winning student/team.
• Second Place – $1,000
• Third Place – $500

Middle School Entries

• One First Place Prize for Middle School-age entries (6th – 8th grade) – $250

Elementary School Entries

• One First Place Prize for Elementary-age entries (Kindergarten-5th grade) – Amazon gift card for $100

Rules and Regulations

1. Students from schools with SADD chapters are eligible to participate. If your school does not have a SADD chapter, start one – it’s so easy to do! Here is how to start a SADD chapter in your school.
2. Submissions must be original, and not have been entered in any other contest or disseminated publicly before contest winners are announced in April of 2021. Submissions must not contain any copyrighted or protected materials, content or music. See Waiver and Submission Form.
3. Videos must be less than one minute and memes/GIFs must be 10 seconds or less and must focus on one (or several) of the topics outlined above.
4. Entries will be judged on adherence to requirements, specifically suggested topics, creativity and message.
5. Submissions must be submitted and applicable forms completed no later than midnight April 30, 2021.
6. After review of all entries, contest sponsors reserve the right in their sole discretion to determine whether prizes shall be awarded.

Judges

Judges will include:

Questions

Have any questions? Feel free to contact us at any time at [email protected] or [email protected]