Escanaba Senior High School is celebrating Safe Winter Driving Week this week. A number of activities will be held the next few days to teach students how to play it safe on the roads, including the importance of clearing ice and snow from your vehicle before heading out. They’ll learn how to check their tires for excessive wear, and there will be an assembly Thursday afternoon where students will hear from the Michigan State Police and Michigan Department of Transportation.
Escanaba High School is one of few Upper Peninsula high schools to be the recipient of a grant through the Ford Motor Company and the Strive For A Safer Drive (S4SD) initiative which will enable the school to host a Safe Winter Driving week which will begin this week, Feb. 18-21.
Strive for a Safer Drive (S4SD) is a teen driving initiative aimed at reducing serious traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities among Michigan’s most inexperienced drivers—teens. It is presented by Ford Driving Skills for Life and the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. All Michigan high schools were eligible to apply.
Escanaba S4SD high school students have volunteered to do things like make informational banners/posters, man an information booth all week during lunch hour, make radio PSA’s, read safe winter driving facts each day during the announcements, host a penny and brushing ice and snow from car window challenges and place rewards or reminders on car window reminding students of the importance of winter safety tips.
The Safe Winter Driving week will culminate with an assembly on Thursday 2/20 at 1:30pm where a host of community members will come to speak with our 9th and 10th graders about Winter Driving. Trooper Lisa Kanyuh from Michigan State Police Post will provide tips on how to safely driving in snowy conditions, Joe Racicot, crash reconstructions from OHSP/MSP will share relevant statistics of where, when and how winter crashes and fatalities occur. Mr.Tire owner, Toby Kuivinen, will help students to become more knowledgeable about tires and proper tread and pressure for safely navigating in winter conditions. Ben Feldhausen, from MDOT will provide information about road conditions and how the department tries to make them safer for winter driving. Lastly, the city of Escanaba will discuss snow plows and how to safely share the road with them.
This event has the ability to favorably impact our EHS students and provide them with knowledge that is critical for safe winter driving. Lisa Valentine, owner of 906 DRIVE is passionate about providing information to students. She is the one her sought out the grant and is advisor to the high school S4SD initiative.
TUESDAY, Feb. 18: TIRE SAFETY WTIH PENNY CHALLENGE: “Before winter snow MO’s check tires b4 they go!”
- S4SD students at the Escanaba High School will man an INFORMATIONAL BOOTH DURING 1ST LUNCH 10:45-11:15 and 2nd LUNCH 11:51-12:18 where they will provide hand-outs on TIRE SAFETY. A tire display courtesy of Mr. Tire will show the importance of attending to both tire pressure and treads to insure a safer winter driving experience. Students will also be encouraged to participate in a Penny Challenge where they will be provided with a shiny new penny and instructed by their peers to simply insert a penny into their family vehicle’s tire tread groove with Lincoln’s head upside down and facing you. With the tire display, they will be shown that if you can see all of Lincoln’s head, your depth tread is less than 2/32 inch and it’s time to replace your tires.
- Students will be encouraged to take a selfie after school by checking their families vehicle that night. The next day at the informational booth when they show their selfie, they will be rewarded with an infamous EHS kitchen’s yummy chocolate chip cookie. Also, students that participate in the selfie contest will be entered into a drawing for the grand prize: a set of WINTER TIRES so generously donated by Mr. Tire!!
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 19: SEE & BE SEEN: “Mo’s clear ice and snow before they go!”
- S4SD students at the Escanaba High School will man an INFORMATIONAL BOOTH DURING 1ST LUNCH 10:45-11:15 and 2nd LUNCH 11:51-12:18 where they will provide hand-outs on SEE & BE SEEN which stresses the importance of clearing all windows, head and tail lights of ice and snow before they go.
- PLEDGE CARDS will also be distributed where students will pledge to clear ice and snow and wear their seat belt before they go. Students that sign and return their cards will be rewarded with a cookie and entered in the grand prize drawing!
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 19: WINDOW HEAD & TAIL LIGHT SAFETY: “Mo’s clear ice and snow before they go!”
- S4SDSD students during both lunch periods will also reinforce the importance of clearing windows by going outside and placing informational hand-outs with candy on vehicles in the high school parking lot. Those vehicles that have the snow properly removed will receive a ‘SMARTIE’ candy and those that have snow left on their windshields will receive a ‘DUM-DUM’ sucker.
- Students will be encouraged to take a selfie of themselves clearing ice, snow from their windows. When they show S4SD students their selfie, they will be rewarded with a bright orange ESKYMO ice scraper AND will be entered into a drawing for the grand prize: a set of WINTER TIRES so generously donated by Mr. Tire!!
THURSDAY, Feb. 20: SAFE DRIVING DISTANCE AND PROPER SPEED “Mo’s take it slow on ice and snow!”
- S4SD students at the Escanaba High School will man an INFORMATIONAL BOOTH DURING 1ST LUNCH 10:45-11:15 and 2nd LUNCH 11:51-12:18 where they will provide hand-outs on TAKE IT SLOW which stresses the importance of driving the proper speed and keeping a bigger gap in snowy conditions.
- S4SD students will have a display at the booth which visually illustrates the importance of achieving and keeping a 4-10 times more distance away from other vehicles when driving in ice and snow
- S4SD students will also provide rewards to EHS students who hand in Pledge cards or who show selfies or media postings of themselves checking tires and/or brushing off snow. Participating students will be receiving either a cookie or ice scraper and be entered into the grand prize drawing
- ASSEMBLY AT 1:25PM with 9th and 10th graders Representatives from Michigan State Police post, Trooper Lisa Kanyuh will share her expertise on precision driving strategies on ice and snowy roads. Office of Highway Safety Planning and MSP crash reconstructionist, Joe Racicot, will share relevant Michigan statistics associated with winter driving and crashes. This information is intended to inform teens that these fatal crashes DO HAPPEN in our area. Ben Feldhausen from MDOT will be sharing his expertise as well along with business owner, Toby Kuivenon from Mr. Tire who will share his knowledge about tires, how to insure their health and what is the difference between their various types and what we Yoopers should have on our car for maximum winter safety.
