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Students Against Destructive Decisions
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Students Against Destructive Decisions
In this episode of Justice Speaks, JSI Co-Founder David Wallace, AKA the Traffic Safety Guy, speaks with Rick Birt, CEO and President of SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions).
SADD’s Focus
SADD has been in existence for over 30 years and initially focused on alcohol impaired driving; its original name was Students Against Drunk Driving. However, the organization has expanded beyond that narrow focus to recognize that teens today have a variety of serious issues they must deal with beyond impaired driving and other traffic safety issues, such as bullying and the opioid epidemic. SADD now has three broad areas of focus – traffic safety; substance use; and, personal health and safety. The overall goal is to keep teens informed so they can ultimately live the rich full live they deserve.
There are SADD chapters in every state of the union and all the territories and even some in New Zealand. SADD is an organization of caring students who work on projects and programs in their local communities with SADD National acting as a clearinghouse of best practices and other resources to educate and support teens all over the world. SADD National lets teen-to-teen interaction change behavior and encourages increased leadership in the local community.
Rick Birt
Mr. Birt started out as a SADD student when he was in high school. Recognizing the positive impact he could make beyond his community through SADD, he interacted with the Ohio Department of Safety to make a difference. In 2014, Rick joined the national organization’s staff and in February of 2018, he was appointed as the CEO and President of SADD.
Since then, the main offices moved from their historic location in Boston to just down the street from the White House in Washington D.C. allowing SADD to effectively work with the Department of Transportation and the White House to increase teen involvement. As Rick noted, SADD’s efforts have always been about the students and the important work ahead.
Traffic Safety
Distracted Driving
One of SADD’s latest efforts focused on Distracted Driving. April was Distracted Driving Awareness Month. It is concerning just how frequent teens are distracted when driving. According to research from SADD, almost 30% of teens in the past 30 days were texting while driving and a whopping 70% have used an app while driving.
SADD’s goal is to educate not only the teens but also the parents of teens and the rest of the community about the risks of distracted driving. In that endeavor, SADD teamed up with a new organization called TextLess; Live More.
TextLess; Live Moreis an organization that works on peer-to-peer prevention, sharing resources and programing material at the school and community level. But the larger message is not only about not texting and driving, but to stop staring down at a screen and live life to the fullest — to occasionally unplug from technology.
It is important to know that traffic safety includes much more than distracted driving. It is about making the right decisions by putting on a seat belt, not drinking and driving, and getting enough sleep so as to not drive drowsy.
Drowsy Driving
Drowsy driving has become another important topic with 1 in 10 teens falling asleep behind the wheel in the last thirty days. This issue requires parents to recognize the difference between what they think how much sleep their teen is getting versus what the teen is getting in reality. Parents think their teen is getting enough sleep, but when you add in homework, and using technology, teens are sleep deficient. T Teens need to recognize that “sleep is not a bank account.” They need to stay well rested or they are putting themselves and everyone else at risk.
100 Deadliest Days
Coming soon will be information on the SADD website dealing with the 100 deadliest traffic safety days for teens: Memorial Day to Labor Day. SADD will have resources for this push to ensure that teens and parents have the knowledge and tools to be safe while on the road during the summertime.
Substance Abuse
According to the National Safety Council (NSC) approximately 63,000 Americans lost their lives last year to the opioid epidemic and SADD is working to raise the awareness of the issue and demonstrate how it is affecting everyone. SADD chapters have hosted town hall meetings around the country, raising awareness and starting the needed blunt discussion. The goals are to have a holistic community conversations and work work with doctors, and schools to have them cognizant of the facts and that there may be other alternatives that can be used in place of prescribed medications.
SADD is also working to educate parents and how it is “typically an activity of access” where the teens have readily accessible medications at home. It is important to have a family discussion on the proper use and the parent’s expectations on using medication.
SADD recognizes that the parents are important part of the process in educating teens. For example, to remind parents that when they drive, whether it is a teen or a pre-teen, there is another set of eyes watching them who will imitate them when they are able to drive. In all the issue areas, parents have to be part of the conversation. This is true even when the teens try to push parents away. It takes an informed parent to keep their teens safe.
Personal Health and Safety
SADD’s growth into the Personal Health and Safety focus area came from local chapters. Teens recognized that there are other issues that also must be discussed such as bullying, teen suicide, mental health, eating disorders, self-harm, stress and anxiety. Teens spoke up and said we need resources on these vital issues. SADD National responded and now has the information for teens.
SADD National Conference
Each year, SADD holds a national conference that is the largest youth-based prevention event in the county. Hundreds of students from all over the country come to the conference. The purpose of the conference, planned by teens, is to empower teens with the information they need. The teens themselves plan the conference details and determine topics and speakers.
This year the conference will be held in Tysons, Virginia (outside of Washington D.C.) June 24 -27 with one day to be hosted on Capitol Hill for a congressional briefing on impaired and drugged driving.
The overall conference is a chance for student leaders to come together, get the information, become informed , then go back to share the message.
To Learn More
Ultimately, SADD’s message is that we can learn the most on how to inform and work with teens from teens by working side by side with them. To learn more about SADD, find a local chapter or how to get involved, go to SADD.org.
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