For the first time in Colorado, last week over 15 universities in the state and a national nonprofit dedicated to campus health and safety issues gathered for a Distracted Driving Summit with EndDD.org at the center of the discussion.
Joel Feldman, EndDD.org founder, delivered the keynote speech on distracted driving to several hundred people participating in the summit, including college students much like his 21-year-old daughter, Casey, who was killed by a distracted driver in 2009.
“Young people are changing the way they drive and are moving their friends and their family to make changes too,” said Feldman. “Their growing awareness of the dangers of distracted driving, combined with their energy, commitment, and leadership is making a big difference. But it’s not easy and this summit is important to help young people speak up when they experience distracted driving as a passenger and learn the skills to effectively intervene.”
The first-ever Distracted Driving Summit is an initiative among the Coalition of Colorado Campus Alcohol and Drug Educators (CADE), the University of Colorado at Boulder and at Denver, Colorado State University and the Bacchus Network, a collegiate peer education program focused on campus health and safety. The event, at the University of Denver, was funded by a grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation.
At the summit, Feldman told the students how the death of his daughter, Casey affected his driving behaviors and attitudes. “I drove distracted until Casey was killed,” Feldman said. “I don’t want others to learn the dangers of distracted driving as I did, by such a painful and horrible loss.”
Feldman developed a science-based distracted driving presentation aimed at young people. By the end of this year, more than 200,000 young people in 35 states will have participated in the presentation.
At the summit, Joel demonstrated how the EndDD.org presentation can be adapted for different audiences and worked with conference participants to help them better understand some of the challenges in changing attitudes and behaviors about distracted driving. “It is a great opportunity to speak with college students and safety professionals in Colorado’s first distracted driving summit. I come away with new insights about how to more effectively address distracted driving with college students.”
Feldman spoke about some of the latest studies on distracted driving, and shared with the summit participants the video public service announcements that EndDD.org has developed. He also talked about his experiences with workshops for teenagers on the bystander intervention protocol developed by Bacchus to encourage feedback from the students on what approaches work best for young people.
Related links:
CADE – Coalition of Colorado Campus Alcohol and Drug Educaters
Colorado Department of Transportation – Colorado DOT
