Matt Cathy with Car City Motors. Photo by Melissa Gregory.
An annual program in St. Joseph which encourages students to be safe drivers, wrapped up with a student winning a car over the weekend.
The St. Joseph Police Department, along with KJO 105.5, Q Country 92.7, Car City, the Missouri Department of Transportation and others put on the “I’m a Safe Driver” program to encourage young drivers to practice safe driving habits.
Officer Brendan McGinnis with the police department’s Traffic Unit is the coordinator of the Safe Driver Program.
McGinnis said the program has been going on for about 14 years.
“The program is basically an incentive program to encourage safe driving among high school students in Buchanan County,” McGinnis said. “They register during the first couple days of school during high school registration. When they register (they) agree to not receive any traffic tickets or be in any at-fault accidents or have any driving, alcohol or drug related contacts with the police department. As long as they can maintain that status throughout the school year, at the end of April, we give away a car to someone that was registered at the beginning of the year.”
McGinnis said giving a car away each year can be a life changing experience for young drivers.
“The girl that won it this year was needing a car to get back and forth to school and now she has a car,” McGinnis said. “I think it’s a positive way for us and the sponsors to be involved in something that, there’s no negative, it’s all positive. Teen drivers account for 75 percent of most crashes throughout the nation. They are the high target area for many local, state and federal level campaigns to drive safe, not text and drive, don’t drink and drive, all those type of campaigns.”
McGinnis said they discovered the program being used in Arizona and customized and implemented it locally.
The “I’m a Safe Driver” program ended with a grand prize of a car being given away over the weekend to Keylee, a safe student driver from Benton High School.
For more information about the program, visit the St. Joseph Police Department’s website.