A new safety program launched in Illinois aims to bring more awareness of the dangers of distracted driving and serve as a reminder for prosecutors to take dangerous drivers off the road.
As millions of drivers are on Illinois roads, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias launched a new program to lessen the sometimes deadly impact of distracted drivers.
As part of National Teen Driver Safety Week, the State of Illinois is focusing its efforts of reaching Illinois’ youngest drivers, including a mandatory video teens will have to watch before they get a learner’s permit.
Brenda Protz lost her daughter Jenna to a distracted driver. Nearly five years ago, Jenna, her best friend, and Jenna’s grandparents all died after the car they were traveling in was hit by a 17-year-old distracted driver.
“It’s going to take everyone to make our roads safer,” Protz said in a statement to WGNTV News. “[Jenna] was here just 14 years. Today, she would be a sophomore in college, studying forensic science and playing basketball…our families are devastated that we lost these amazing people.”
The One Road, One Focus campaign will also call for safety zones in areas where lots of crashes have happened. It will also ask lawmakers to fund new grants for local departments to start their own enforcement programs and remind prosecutors to get accused distracted drivers’ license suspended in the event of serious injury or death.
“No text or email is ever that important and certainly not as important as a child’s life,” Giannoulias said. “There is nothing that is more important than paying attention to the road,” she said. “No parent should ever have to face the loss of their child.”
Giannoulias said he hopes to include that safety video for learner’s permit recipients starting in 2025.
Source: WGNTV.com, MSN.com
