“It’s very relevant, it uses current music, current shows, things like that to get kid’s attention,” said Clark County Combined Health District Health Planning Supervisor Emma Smales. “It kind of mixes in the popular, fun stuff with the important stuff.”
ThinkFast, a Michigan-based educational program, focuses on the prevention, responsibility and awareness surrounding teen driving safety.
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“Teens have the least amount of experience when it comes to driving and it’s a huge responsibility,” State Farm Insurance Agent Erin Patton said. “We wanted to find a fun way to explain to them the statistics behind what is happening in teen driving and things that they should be looking out for to be proactive.”
The Springfield Post Commander for the Ohio State Highway Patrol said this event is one of the “most high energy” presentations he’s seen.
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“Getting this kind of program here at Greenon, and some of the other local schools here in Clark County, is a big deal,” Lt. Brian Aller said. “You keep the attention of the kids, not only with traffic statistics, but also music, videos, things like that, stuff they’re actually interested in, and you kind of put the statistics with it.”
The Safe Communities Coalition has offered the interactive game to Clark County schools, with the intention of adding more dates in the future.
“We’ve done about five of these in the county so far, and we were the first county in Ohio to bring ThinkFast here,” Smales said. “Ohio Traffic Safety Office is pushing it all over the state, so it’s now almost in every county.”
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