Traffic School Presentation

Recently I had the opportunity to talk about my platform, "Ready Behind the Wheel" to a group of Traffic School participants. Sgt. Wade Raab of the Orem Department of Public Safety, Traffic Division was leading the 3-hour class.

I spoke about the prevalence and dangers of distracted driving. Did you know that in Utah there is a distracted driving crash roughly every 100 minutes? We can do better than this.

I had the class list common driving distractions they have noticed while driving: eating, shaving, putting on make-up, changing music, changing clothes, talking on cell phones and texting.

I told the class the devastating story of a personal friend of mine whose life was changed forever by a distracted driver.

I urged the class members to commit to making their cars a "NO PHONE ZONE" and handed out window stickers for their cars.

Each of us can commit to focusing on the road and being ready behind the wheel each time we turn on the ignition of our cars.

Love, Hannah Harkness

Miss Orem 2011