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CITY, ND – (NewsDakota.com) Valley City High School recently participated in the North Dakota Speak UP program Campaign, which is a distracted driving prevention program.  Distracted and reckless driving is the leading cause of death for teenagers.

Speak Up! helps teens in North Dakota protect their safety in a vehicle. There are 3 main types of Distractions that students and adults don’t often think about they are 1) Visual: taking your eyes off the road, 2) Manual: taking your hands off the wheel and 3) Cognitive: taking your mind off what you’re doing. Distracted driving can consist of: Texting, Changing the radio, changing the songs on your ipod or iphone, passengers in your vehicle, eating while driving and entering an address in your GPS.

 The Student Council established a Pledge Wall.

VCHS Student Council Advisor Penny Peterson said on March 16th & 17th over 140 students and teachers took TAKE THE PLEDGE, making the commitment to drive or to be a passenger of a distraction-free car.  Their pledge card is displayed on our Pledge Wall in Sr. High school hallway.

She said Speak Up! empowers young people to recognize and react to situations that place them at risk—such as a distracted driver.

•    Speak Up! if you are a passenger and the driver is distracted

•    Encourage friends and family to drive distraction-free

•    Share your knowledge that texting and driving is illegal, dangerous and irresponsible

•    Never text, take selfies, check email or social media, select music or talk on the phone while behind the wheel

The Student Council would like to share: Lets all work together to put a stop to distracted driving, and let’s start with you and your encouragement towards your fellow drivers.

Driving is a privilege, not a right. Be careful you don’t lose that privilege.