Every year distracted driving kills about 3,100 people and injures 424,000. Families and communities are torn apart by these preventable tragedies.

 

And who responds to distracted driving crashes, exposing themselves to the hazards of moving traffic to serve the public? The fire department. The police department. EMS. Towing and recovery. Every emergency response agency has a community interest and self-interest in reducing distracted driving.

 

Distracted driving is a community problem everywhere. But public educators skilled in talking about fire prevention or community safety may not be as comfortable addressing distracted driving. To meet this need, ResponderSafety.com and EndDD.org partnered to create a free train-the-trainer webinar for public educators, “Train the Trainer — How to Give Effective Distracted Driving Presentations in Your Community” on May 17, 2022 at 1 PM Eastern Time. Registration is now open and is first-come, first-served until we reach capacity. Anyone who does public education for any organization is welcome.

 

 

You’ll learn from Joel Feldman, Esq. MS, founder of EndDD.org, a campaign of the Casey Feldman Foundation. Mr. Feldman’s daughter, Casey, was 21 when she was killed by a distracted driver while walking in a crosswalk. The driver said he never saw her. Mr. Feldman and Casey’s mother, Dianne Anderson, created EndDD.org. Mr. Feldman has given more than 900 presentations about distracted driving. With input from experts at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Mr. Feldman developed interactive, scientifically-guided, evidence-based distracted driving programs integrating health communication, behavioral change, and targeted persuasion principles. The EndDD.org network of 350 trained volunteer speakers has reached more than 475,000 people.

 

Mr. Feldman will cover strategies for addressing the distracted driving problem, how to talk to students about the risks of distracted driving, and how to craft distracted driving public education programs to reach the wider community. The webinar pays particular attention to the high school level because young adult and teen drivers are at increased risk. Among drivers age 15-20 involved in fatal crashes, 9% were distracted at the time of the crash, nearly double the rate of older drivers. 39% of high school students self-reported that they text or email when they drive. You’ll learn techniques that engage this age group and how to apply them.

 

Train the Trainer — How to Give Effective Distracted Driving Presentations in Your Community calls on public educators to expand their mission into distracted driving and provides the tools to do it. Today, only 4% of fire department runs are to structure fires. Two-thirds of roadway response calls by fire departments are for EMS or rescues. The most common type of police department call for service is response to a traffic-related event. Unsafe driving is a community risk that impacts all emergency services and we have the tools to mitigate it through education. Register for “Train the Trainer- How to Give Effective Distracted Driving Presentations in Your Community” to be one of the first public educators to bring distracted driving education to your department and community.