And Community Leaders of america , i am pleased to welcome all of you here to the National Press club. And i will samtani be your master of ceremonies. On the president and founder of international pr and Management Firm based here in washington, d. C. As the mother of a new teen driver and my third this is my third time going through this this summer and professionally as a former Television News reporter of Traffic Safety, it has been a passion of mine for years and i am thrilled to be here this morning. Are those of you who are new to fcla, it is a Student Led Organization that helps youth develop leadership and workplace skills through family and consumer scientists science is to prepare for college and careers. 5400s over 100 chapters across the nation and in puerto rico. Those numbers speak volumes about the reach and impact of this organization. Unique among student organizations because programs are planned and run by student members and its the only career and technical in School Student organization with a central focus on family. One of fcclas signature programs focuses on teen Traffic Safety. We convened subject Matter Experts and students to address an important question. Is road safety on your backtoschool checklist . That important question with the results of a new report is fccla executive. Irector Sandy Spavone throughout sandys career, the focus of her work has been to provide programs and opportunities for youth to have leadership tools to take a concern had turn it into action. She has developed national Youth Leadership training programs, programs to address specific health and safety resort concerns and coordinated national campaigns. There is no better example than the work fccla is doing with teen rsa. Please join me in welcoming Sandy Spavone. [applause] monika. Hank you, i am pleased to talk you about fcclas teen roadway Safety Assessment or teen rsas. It is a result of the partnership with state farm and we are grateful to them for this project. State farm and fccla provide opportunities for youth to turn concerned into action and make a different in their communities. Families acting for community a programfety, it is of fccla our chapters engage in to make a change and concludes these efforts. We ask them to look at what is important in their community to make a change and then conduct wets projects that led peertopeer education products across the country. Two of our National Officers are with us today. We are pleased to have them to today. To be here with us they would love to talk to you afterwards and share more about work in their local communities and what they hope to do this of the National Officers organization. The goal quite simply is to action inuth to take their communities and advocate for changes in infrastructure. We hear a lot about infrastructure from our nations leaders and these youth have taken that and understand what that means and have applied that to real change in their local community. We asked them to go out and read the roads and look at the roads they are using and one of the best parts, i think, is it takes the attention away from them and puts it on some of the infrastructure pieces that impacted their safety. Teenagers can be doing all the right things, buckled up, their phone can be down, taking all take,eps we tell them to but infrastructure has an Important Role in their safety. In looking atouth that has been a goal of this project. More than 1000 students and anyone schools took on this job this year and they went out and said, is the intersection near our school safe . Of the safest places for kids should be school and getting to school should be safe. I learned today that most families spend 501 getting the kids ready to go to school every year. I dont know that i did that, but thats what they do today. Imagine the time for its took to pick out the right backpack, the right shoes, the right outfit and how much time today take looking at the roads their kids are going to take going to school . That is what this effort did. It helps the teens take a look at those roads. Before we get into the depths of the result, we want to show you a video that illustrates this project. You are seeing a lot of distracted driving. Its a great eyeopener to see what people are distracted by. A couple intersections did not have crossing signs. They have signs for a reason. A pretty dangerous situation out there. Todays teens find a variety of ways to get around and while they have access to numerous Driver Safety programs as they prepare to get their licenses, there is not much else to really help them understand how to read the entire roadway system and understand how everyone who uses roads needs to see the bigger picture. What we want to do is help you, train you, get you ready to be. Ble to read the road some of americas leading traffic organizations are working to change this by conducting teen roadway Safety Assessments, also known as rsas to help students examine how safety is affected by driver behaviors and also by how the design, signing, and Pavement Markings and other asked x of roadway infrastructure all contribute to their overall safety. Teens are particularly vulnerable to roadway dangers and each year, thousands of teenagers die in car crashes. Although distraction and poor decision are critical factors, they are often compounded by teen inexperience and their inability to react to roadway conditions. We are actually teaching teens about the roadway and how important roadway safety infrastructure is. There are a lot of examples we can give about signage and medians and meeting and cable barriers to prevent those from crossing from one side of the roadway to the other. These devices are lifesaving Devices Installed on the roadway. This gives you a chance to apply math skills, science skills, a lot of civics. Found greathings i is a lot of these kids are interested in communication, the media, being able to be out there and poised and being able to share their views is tremendous. This program has opened my eyes today. They never thought about a career in engineering or transportation, so i love it. The success of the initial teen road Safety Assessment has taken the program nationwide. Organizers encourage others in the Traffic Safety community to get involved on this groundbreaking program. Of the teen rsa can bring a host of benefits. Its really up to other people at the Grassroots Level working hard every day to bring about those changes in education and Transportation Safety. Lets see. It says time remaining to finish crossing. This is a fairly highly trafficked area, especially with markings on the ground where people arent supposed across. Some people dont always Pay Attention to them and we need brighter lights on the science of people can become more aware so that they can see when people are supposed across, when they are not supposed across, and when they should be driving. Toexposing teens infrastructure and helping them understand that is part of the pyramid for their safety and what they hear on the news about infrastructure here in georgia, it is not just on the interstate, its in their local communities where infrastructure is just as important and as a Community Member they can be observant of the Highway Safety info structure needs and advocate for change where they need to. It makes them better drivers, more aware of what is around them, and contributes to the overall safety of roads in georgia. We are glad to have fcclas National Leadership today to participate in this and with the high school fccla chapter. Rsas allow parents, teachers, and committed leaders to improve roadway safety, particularly for teenagers. This program is about keeping our teens safe. You can be part of keeping that happen and making a difference in students lives. The bottom line is i believe in my heart that we saved some lives today. I think they should do this and other schools, too. Sandy you may have noticed the person in the video has been instrumental from the beginning and i would like to recognize joetoday on his birthday, is here with us. [applause] road safety has been inspirational as we developed this and he has helped the youth understand what they can apply in the classroom into advocacy and making a change. Thank you for your dedication to this project. Working with several different Traffic Safety partners, we have been able to engage in this project for over five years and it has been fun to see it grow from a concept into a project. Of these studentled efforts are an eyeopening opportunity to allow students through the lens of what they see have an entirely different perspective on road safety. Instead of being told what to do, they are asked to their perspective on what makes an intersection safe and given a platform to educate their peers. Through the analysis of Data Collected in this past year alone, fccla students here is what we have loan learned. 73 percent of fccla high School Students that recently evaluated the intersections near their schools in 22 states across the country felt unsafe using the intersection that day, their friends, and family members used every day going to school. 40 of the schools reported their school pedestrian crosswalks were not painted properly. 47 of schools reported that the crosswalk signals did not allow an adequate amount of time to safely cross the street. I saw that personally when we studentsf these with literally running across the intersection to get across and they had been purposefully purposefully trained themselves to go fast so they got across before the light changed. They are advocating for the light times to be changed for their school. Only 9 of schools reported to have crossing guards and only 19 of areas near schools were schools onrked as areas. These numbers are alarming at least. I would like to turn the floor over to some of my colleagues in the Traffic Safety world who can address the importance of this type of peertopeer education from their perspective. Thank you so much, sandy. As we just learned, the teen rsa Initiative Works to educate students about how roadway engineering, design, and infrastructure affects the safety of all road users. Drivers, passengers, that estrogens, bicyclists, motorcyclists as well. Your to tell us about the importance of these efforts is one of our subject Matter Experts, greg . Cohen. He greg [applause] greg thank you, monika and thank you, sandy. Its a pleasure to be here. Fccla provided wonderful leadership ridding the world of Civil Engineering and youth empowerment. I know many people might not see that as an obvious connection, but what better way to help teens apply science and math printables that they have learned in the classroom principles that they have learned in the classroom but to improve communities and save lives. I am a licensed professional engineer. Im also the executive director of the roadway safety find. Tching Safety Foundation its a nonprofit not far from here. Our mission is to move the United States to zero deaths. Wee many of our partners, envision a nation free of traffic fatalities and serious injuries and we are working hard to achieve that within 30 years. At the core of this effort is a commitment to what is known as the safe Systems Approach or the recognition that humans, the matter how well trained and intentioned, make mistakes. All elements of the system, the driver, the vehicle, the road, must beside, they all designed to ensure those mistakes are never fatal or incapacitating. Thats why we are so enthusiastic in supporting the teen rsa project and why we are sed to ofpite record high rates seatbelt use, the best and safest engineered cars that we have ever had the term distracted driving takes its rightful place in the national lexicon along with drunk driving. We are still seeing traffic fatalities going up. In fact, we are reversing a lot of the project process that has been made and we are not 100 sure why that is occurring. Much of the progress in the last 20 years is being erased as we speak. Example, a terribly an hour ae example, year, 13 people a year are going to die on the roads in this country. Among those, youth are going to be overrepresented. This is the number one killer of youth up to age 34 in this country. There are many reasons for this, but among them is the continued presence of road deficiencies. We know that because good roads than bad roads. When you have roadside hazards, obsolete designs, and other physical dangers, it bakes risk into the system. Roadside ditches, trees and utility post within inches of goes on. Ent, the list these are common sight on the road in the country that guarantee a traffic crash is not a question of if, but when. These dangers are a big part of the reason that about 53 of u. S. Traffic deaths take place in rural areas where speeds are median not on divides anddian other safety treatments. The safest fivestar car we have is still no match for a one star road especially at high speed. We stand in off today of the great work fccla chapters have accomplished. Who better to take a critical eye toward the safety of School Students, the faculty, and staff that drive, walk, and bike them every day. Who better to bring into the Safety Education than the teenagers that already have years of experience biking and walking on the roads and bring fresh eyes as new drivers embarking on a lifetime of safe mobility. Needs to be willing to step up and provide the safest possible environment with which teens learn to navigate the roads. It is not enough for adults that survived the high risk teen driving years to admonish teenagers cannot behave in certain ways. We must walk the walk together and invest in lifesaving crash copter members and systemic improvements we know all road users can appreciate and help us achieve a nation of zero deaths. Who knows, maybe some of the students have opened their eyes to the world of infrastructure and save systems through the fccla teen rsa work will go on to become the next generation of Civil Engineers and policymakers that implement the next generation of Safety Technologies and will finally achieve our aspirational goal. Thanks very much. [applause] you, greg, for your great work as well. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to hear directly from a student representing her fccla chapter of Union High School in big stone gap, virginia. The students not only conducted an rsa, but successfully advocated for change within their community. I am happy to welcome madison collins, fccla chapter president from Union High School and her advisor, family and Consumer Sciences teacher connie carico. Thank you, connie, for your decades of dedication to students in your community. We cannot wait to hear firsthand about the work you did near your school to make it a safer place for everyone on the road. [applause] madison hi, everyone. Was excited toer conduct 18 rsa this past school year. We had no idea what an exciting adventure we were about to embark on. You should have received our case study in your packets. Here are the highlights. Have from a small town, we schools that share an intersection close to each other on a main road. You have parents, student drivers, school buses, and members of the Community Sharing a busy road during school dropoff and pickup times. Imagine all this traffic moving through a congested school area every day with no type of Traffic Safety infrastructure. It was not safe. We decided to do something about it. We conducted a teen rsa. We surveyed students and teachers and recorded traffic patterns at the intersection near our school. We counted the number of cars coming through the intersection. We took this data and present it presented it at a local forum. To us, it seemed pretty simple. We need a traffic light. Everyone seemed to agree on the situation. It was not safe and we needed to do something about it. This is anything but simple. We could all agree on the problem, but finding a solution was not going to be easy. We started with our local officials and quickly found out approval of new traffic light is based on federal regulations and those regulations are 100s of pages long. It felt like we were looking for a needle in a haystack. Persisted and found the needle. As long as we could show our intersection was part of a main thoroughfare, we might be able to meet federal regulations and get a new traffic light. One thing we knew for sure, there was a certain criteria in the federal guidelines we did not want to meet, the frequency and severity of accidents. The thing the last thing we wanted was to wait until several dangerous and deadly accident took place in order to create a change. As daunting as the challenge was, we asked ourselves which one of our classmates might we lose if nothing is done . Thanks to the Data Collected through our teen rsa, we did not have to meet that criteria. The next challenge was money. We quickly found out how expensive it is. A single light can cost up to 450 thousand dollars. On top of that, the electricity costs 7,000 a year. That kind of money is hard enough given the traffic patterns near our school, we found out we would need at least two traffic lights. For an area that has been hit hard by the loss of the coal mining industry, this kind of money is nearly impossible. So many families have already left the area and our county has had to close three hospitals and one elementary school. We were down, but not out and this is where i will let our advisor finish the story. Connie first of all, i have got humblingat it is very to speak here. We want to start by thanking the school for putting together the competition that we won. Had there not been standards and criteria in there, we would not have known to meet them and how to get where we were. I have to be honest, there were ,imes when we wanted to give up when everybody said that nothing is going to happen and nothing can be done. ,here did remain the question which child . Thankfully, when i wanted to give up, maddie and the other students said no way and when they wanted to quit i said, not now. There was no way that we were giving up. Over the past several months, these students have learned about fcclas ultimate leadership experience. They have advocated for change and a powerful coalition of supporters have made the impossible reality. Union high School Students, states, administrators farm agents, be. Representatives, the Virginia State police, the Severance Committee, the board of supervisors, our town council and two town managers, our school board have worked toward achieving a common goal and it meant everybody had to sit down together. We had to thinking about our own agendas and we had to look at what needed to be done and try to find common solutions. Our students have listened to the experts and they came to around aboutat costing about 130,000 less than a single traffic light was both a safer and more affordable solution for our situation. I have to tell you, when someone firsts adjusted a roundabout, i spent two days marching up and down the hallways saying that is the dumbest thing i ever heard. A roundabout will kill the people in our town and we dont know how to fight it. It didnt take long if we looked at the research and listened to what was there and figured out it was the only solution that was going to work. A member of our school board excuse me, his wife was a member of our school board for a long time, a member of our board of supervisors and a member of the Severance Committee said when our students cared enough to count cars by the way, it was snowing, together and analyze the data, how could we say no . Even a roundabout was beyond vdots budget. They were able to obtain 126,000 for the from the Severance Committee that normally costs about 325,000 to build, but they had 120 6,000 available which was approved by the board of supervisors and thanks to joy mullins, a civil ,ngineer who works for vdot designed and supervised the building of our roundabout. 125,000. D for by [applause] the ribboncutting ceremony for the new roundabout was held last week. We havent had a single accident. People were betting on how many wrecks there would be in the first day. No one. Our students also volunteered to work with vdot to work as models to educate the public on how to navigate the roundabout. We had teachers with little toy cars and we would take the toy cars and move them around the roundabout. It is the most practical way to figure out how to do this. This has been an incredible experience for Union High School. Have led the way to creating a safer environment for everyone. We hope our story conserve as an example can serve as the time of as an example as the kind of change our youth can create in communities across the country. In closing remarks, i would like to thank god for putting the right people in the right place at the right time with the right attitude and being willing to work together. Learnedr students have as they look towards their new horizons, which is the motto for fccla, they know that as individuals, they can make a difference. Also, i promised some people i would thank them on national tv so. Goes. We want to thank the entire vdot crew. Many of them worked tirelessly. Our School Principal for encouraging us, the superintendent, all the people who donated money so we can go to national and so we could come here, it was just a lot of people that made this happen, inspiring such an Impressive Group of Community Leaders is part of the fccla ultimate leadership experience and we thank you for allowing us to be here. [applause] thank you, madison and connie. You have truly inspired us with your tenacity and commitment to keeping your community safe. Its amazing what teams like you can do. Thank you so much. And now here to tell us about the work they are doing to complement these types of students, i am pleased to , president oger wentz and ceo of the american Traffic Safety Services Association and president and ceo of the he brings over 30 years of experience, 19 of which are in his current role. Atfsa has been recognized for leading the way funding the efficacy of Transportation Safety nationally. We are fortunate to have him here today and to get his perspective on how this type [applause] pleasure to join the leadership at this reaping the highlight the outstanding work on roadway assessments and i am pleased that fcc a lay is continuing a program piloted at a meeting in tampa. Thinking forn in the work he did on that. Pilot program would never have happened. The Safety Assessment gives the opportunity for what is safe and unsafe on our travel ways. This gives them an opportunity to act as Community Advocates for a great cause. Its appropriate they focus on school areas. Really to be congratulated on the work you did. That is how it is supposed to be. Kids travelny ways to school. I would like to focus on the most vulnerable travelers, the pedestrian. Sites many statistics it should be a concern to all of us. 5300 76 pedestrians were killed in the United States. This average is 21 crash everyone. 6 hours. About 129,000 pedestrians were for injuriese room in 2015. One in every five children who were killed in traffic cache
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