Glen Burnie, Md. (October 23, 2019) – To mark National Teen Driver Safety Week, October 20-26, the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration’s (MDOT MVA) Highway Safety Office will debut and demonstrate a rollover simulator designed to help educate teen drivers on the importance of using a seatbelt, and encourage all drivers and passengers to buckle up, every seat, every time. Additionally, MDOT MVA will announce the kickoff of its 2019-2020 Making It Click seat belt awareness program and name the participating Maryland schools.
WHEN:
11:30 a.m. Thursday, October 24, 2019
WHO:
Chrissy Nizer, MDOT MVA Administrator and Governor Larry Hogan’s Highway Safety Representative
Lisa Myers, Chief, Howard County Police Department
Nicholas Novak, Principal, Howard High School
WHERE:
Howard High School
8700 Old Annapolis Road
Ellicott City, MD 21043
NOTE: The demonstration will take place in the school parking lot during lunch period. Students will be invited to attend and observe.
WHAT:
The simulator provides an educational demonstration about the importance of properly wearing a seat belt. Crash dummies are placed in a pickup truck without seat belts and a rollover crash is simulated. The audience will observe the results of not being properly restrained. A second simulation will then be run with the crash dummies buckled in, demonstrating the difference that can be made by wearing a safety belt.
WHY:
Making It Click is a peer-led program that promotes 100 percent seat belt usage among young drivers and passengers. In 2018, 105 people died in crashes on Maryland roadways when not wearing a seat belt. Correctly wearing a seat belt can reduce the risk of fatal injury by 45 percent. National data shows that seat belt use tends to be lower among teen drivers, and that car crashes are the most common cause of death for people ages 5 through 24.
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