METRO	TODAY • August 22, 2001

Lane Ranger: Sobering looks at road safety head to school
Joey Ledford - Staff
Wednesday, August 22, 2001

There's a powerful message out there for teen drivers and their parents, and it's bound for every high school in the state.

Back in March we told you about the grass-roots effort planted by the Marietta-Cobb Drivers Education Program to produce not one, but two videos to try to show parents and teens how to make intelligent decisions about teen driving.

On Tuesday, program officials unveiled their work. To say the presentation was moving is an understatement. Cliche alert: There wasn't a dry eye in the house at the Capitol Education Center Auditorium.

The first video, "Sticker Shock! The Real Cost of Teen Driving" is a wake-up call for parents who buy their teens expensive cars and hand them the keys without a thought for the consequences.

Rick Jones Jr., played by student actor Judah Brown, gets the flashy high-powered sports car his dad never had. Lacking in parental driving training or driver's ed, Ricky predictably crashes the car at a high speed and injures an elderly couple.

A stern-faced real-life Cobb County judge, Harris Adams, awards the victims a $750,000 judgment, which costs Ricky's once-wealthy suburban parents their new home.

The second video, "Dying to Get There," targeted to teens, is even better. It's real life stuff: Cobb father David Gault tearfully talks about the loss of his 16-year-old son in a crash. Cobb police Officer Brad Blakeney reveals how tough it is to tell parents about fatal crashes in the wee hours. Mary Flournoy, 70, tells how her 11-year-old sister was killed when a tire blew out with older sis at the wheel in 1947.

"This is an issue of . . . life and death among our young people," said Gov. Roy Barnes, who spoke at the premiere and appears in both videos.

The toughening of the teen driving law's curfew, passenger restrictions and sanctions for moving violations goes into effect Jan. 1. Barnes said he's aware that his legacy among teens is already set as the governor who doesn't want them to drive.

"We're not picking on them," he said. "This is not about taking away any privileges that exist. It's about saving lives."

Jan Blodgett, director of the Marietta Community Schools and the driving force behind the two films, said that thanks to corporate sponsors led by the WellStar Foundation, both videos, as well as DVD versions of the professionally produced films, will be shipped free to each of Georgia's 340 public high schools in September.

The videos also may be directly marketed to the public or possibly placed in Georgia public libraries.

Details are still being worked out as the fund-raising for the bare-bones budget effort continues.

"I would love to see this get into the hands of every teen and parent across the state," said WellStar CEO Tom Hill.

The teen video is the inspiration of the Cobb Youth Leadership class of 2001, an organization of students from each Cobb high school.

"We used death and loss and that can be totally effective," said Lanie Bernes of Walton High School, one of the Youth Leadership members. "I know I slowed down (while) driving."

Blodgett said the videos will be shown on Cobb's cable TV community access channel and that hopefully other counties in metro Atlanta will follow suit.

It should be shown on commercial TV --- and well promoted beforehand --- because it is the kind of message that can make a difference.

"Sometimes you have to just sit down and make (teens) watch it," said Bob Judson, a Marietta resident and nationally known filmmaker who volunteered his time and efforts. "We hope it's going to be a word-of-mouth thing."

> ON THE WEB: Marietta Community School: http://www.marietta-city.k12.ga.us/drivers_education.htm