Innovative program teaches good driving behaviors to high school students
By Tom Ganser
CORRESPONDENT
Brooke Trewyn, a junior at Whitewater High School, had the magic touch on April 26 as she picked the right key to start her new car at the second annual car giveaway for the Walworth County Chapter of Operation Click.
Students from seven other high schools in the Walworth County Chapter – including Big Foot and Williams Bay High Schools –were also in attendance at the banquet held at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan. The remaining schools were Badger, Catholic Central of Burlington, Delavan-Darien, East Troy and Elkhorn Area.
Last year’s winner of a free car was Alyssa Skindingsrude, now a senior at WHS.
Trewyn was the 11th student out of 16 who tried to start the car. Each of the other students selected by their school to start the car went home with a $50 gift certificate from Walmart.
Operation Click is a program designed to help reduce the number of injuries and fatalities among teen drivers by creating safe driving habits through positive reinforcement.
To be eligible to win the car, students had to sign a contract at the beginning of the school year that consists of 12 requirements, including remaining enrolled in high school without discipline issues, never texting while driving or driving after consuming alcoholic beverages or riding with someone who has, always wearing a seatbelt and encouraging passengers to wear their seatbelt and never being convicted of traffic, alcohol related or seatbelt violations during the school year.
The number of students from each school who got a chance to draw the winning key depended on how active their school was in promoting the program within the school and community and the number of student drivers who are wearing their seatbelts.
Each school needed to show that more than 95 percent of their high school drivers are wearing their seatbelts and submit a report to the Operation Click Board of Directors showing what their school has done to support the program. The seatbelt percentage was determined by four unannounced compliance checks by faculty and staff throughout the school year.
Overall, this year’s results showed the Walworth County Chapter schools had a 97.3 percent seatbelt compliance rate, compared to 94 percent last year. The rate significantly exceeds Wisconsin’s state rate of about 80 percent.
Trewyn’s car, a2007 Chevrolet Cobalt, was donated by Kunes Country Auto Group located in Delavan, Elkhorn, Antioch, Ill., and Mount Carroll, Ill.
“We’re very proud to be part of this program,” Gregg Kunes said, “Thanks to all these kids who did a great job throughout the whole year. And thanks for everything that law enforcement does for all of our kids and for our whole community.”
Placing a priority on safe driving
Operation Click started in 1998.
Today, students from 31 high schools make up five Operation Click chapters in Illinois, along with the eight high schools in the Walworth County Chapter that was organized in 2011. Williams Bay High School joined the original seven high schools this year.
Sean McGrath, a police officer in Crystal Lake, Ill., and president of Operation Click, said the leadership and the directors of Operation Click are all volunteers.
He also announced Heidi Majerczak’s new paid position as program coordinator has been funded for two years by Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, located in Barrington, Ill.
“Operation Click will be synonymous with good driving behaviors countrywide through the encouragement of making positive personal decisions to wear seatbelts and drive sober,” McGrath said. “The implementation of this program will have come full circle when the youth that are educated today provide a clear understanding of safe, smart driving for the youth they will raise in the future.”
McGrath stressed to the students the importance of making good decisions.
“Choices. Choices. That’s driving. You face many, many choices. The choices you make may become the decisions you have to live with for the rest of your life,” he said.
McGrath also said changing the behavior of teen drivers to be safer drivers depended more on students “hearing it from their peers” than on what they hear at home and from law enforcement.
“You represent the best in student leadership in this community,” said Capt. Scott McClory, patrol division commander of the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office and Chairman of the Walworth County Highway and Traffic Safety Committee, in addressing the students, “You understand the importance of safe driving and have signed the Operation Click contract at the beginning of this school year and your attendance here today shows the dedication to that commitment.”
McClory described the four Bs that contribute to traffic fatalities for teenage drivers: Booze, Bravado, Belts and Busy.
When it comes to Booze, McClory said there’s strong scientific evidence that alcohol consumption reduces reaction time and impairs judgment behind the wheel.
Bravado means “driving too fast while showing off to your friends.”
With respect to Belts, McClory said, “I’ve been in police work for more than two decades. I have never cut a dead person out of seat belt in my career. … The odds of walking away from an otherwise fatal crash increase enormously by always wearing your seatbelt.”
Since speaking at the Operation Click banquet last year, McClory has added “Busy” to the list.
“Studies have proven that the human animal simply cannot successfully complete two divided attention tasks at once behind the wheel. So turn your cell phone off. Don’t attempt to read a text. Or send a text. Or watch a video. Or try to read your GPS while driving. Or a book or a magazine. Or doing anything else that takes your mind off concentrating on the road,” he said.
McClory ended his remarks by asking the more than 20 law enforcement personnel at the gathering to stand.
He then said, “I only want you to sit down if you have never in your career had to make a traffic death notification.”
No one sat down.
“It’s the hardest thing we do in law enforcement,” McClory said. “For every police officer standing, that’s one son or daughter who never makes it home from prom, who never graduates or get married. Or a sister or brother who doesn’t get to stand up in their sibling’s wedding as a maid-of-honor or best man.”
