CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Campaign will focus on safe teen driving

Advance-News - 4/19/2018

Campaign will focus on safe teen driving

ALBION - The Orleans County Sheriff's Office will participate next week in the annual "No Empty Chair" campaign.

The campaign is conducted around prom and graduation time to raise awareness of teenage traffic safety issues statewide in an effort to ensure teen drivers stay safe on the highways and will be in their chairs on graduation day. It will last April 23 to 27 this year.

Orleans deputies will join with law enforcement statewide to step up enforcement near area high schools. They will target speeding in school zones, cellphone use, underage drinking and impaired driving, along with promoting school bus safety.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens nationwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research data found 10 to 12 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities in 2013-2015 occurred in crashes involving drivers 16 to 20 years old.

In 2015, data also revealed multiple contributing factors in the crashes, which included unsafe speed, following too closely, driver inattention/distraction, failure to yield right of way and underage drinking.