Young people are learning about driver safety from a Jackson State University team hoping to keep them from becoming the next car crash statistic.
“We’re reaching young people before we get to that point,” said Keith Lamont McMillian, occupation safety coordinator at the Department of Interdisciplinary Alcohol/Drug Studies Center.
Along with Triniti Grant, a coordinator who focuses on youth impaired driving, they and other educators travel across the state to meet with young adults between the ages of 16 and 20 in schools, community organizations and events to give presentations about seat belt usage, driving under the influence and distracted driving.
With 35 fatal crashes in 2021, Jackson had a rate of 23.4 crashes per 100,000 people, according to a MarketWatch analysis of federal traffic safety and insurance data. Looking at this rate, MarketWatch named Jackson among the most unsafe cities for drivers.
Mississippi had 697 fatal crashes in 2021 – the highest rate in the country at 26.2 deaths per 100,000, according to the Institute for Highway Safety. Nationally, the number of motor vehicle deaths rose 18.3% between 2019 and 2022.
McMillian said the state statistics are a sign that he and the team of educators he is part of have a lot of work to do.
The center’s work is supported by a grant through the Mississippi Office of Highway Safety. Grant and McMillian are assigned to nearly 40 counties across the state that have the highest rates of car crashes, including Hinds County.
Fifty-four percent of Mississippi’s crash deaths involved a single vehicle and over half of the crashes happened in rural areas, according to an analysis by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a trade group which MarketWatch cited in its analysis.
Other contributors to fatal crashes include a lack of seat belt use and impaired driving.
In Mississippi, 44% of car occupants killed in car crashes used a seat belt compared to 41% who did not use a seat belt, according to the analysis. The national rate of seat belt usage in 2021 was 90% compared to 80% in Mississippi.
Of 456 drivers killed in Mississippi in 2021, 40 died with known blood alcohol content results. The analysis found that BAC was known for just 59% of all fatal car crashes, and reporting rates for BAC vary greatly across the country – 95% in Hawaii compared to 9% in Mississippi.
Grant and McMillian said what young adults know about driver safety and the driving laws varies across the state and can be formed by the adults and peers in their lives as well as popular culture.
He said they may not know about the financial cost of a driving related ticket or fine for speeding, not using a seat belt or texting. She said they may not be aware of the statistics of how many teenagers and young people die in car crashes.
“The goal is to bring awareness because they don’t know,” Grant said. “The real goal is to let them know and maybe, with knowledge, it will change their approach.”
Grant said young people can have a positive influence on their peers and set an example, like making sure that everyone has their seatbelt on before the car starts moving.
Many high schools around the state offer driver’s education programs and there are private driver schools, but not all young people have access to them, McMillian said. He sees the center’s work as a way to bridge the gap in driver’s education.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, drivers were not required to demonstrate their driving skills through a road test to get their license. McMillian said parents have approached him at events to ask about what they can do for their child if they haven’t taken a driver’s education program.
In addition to statistics and videos in their safety education, Grant and McMillian also look for interactive ways to teach young adults about potential consequences of speeding, not using seat belts and driving while under the influence or distracted.
There are “drunk goggles” to simulate blurry vision one would experience while driving with a high blood alcohol content.
A creative way the center is sharing information is through a podcast called Safe Roads Mississippi, which launched in the fall. It will feature experts, people from agencies that focus on road safety and law enforcement and also highlight driving stories of young people.
The center partners with state agencies like the Office of Highway Safety, which are able to recreate a car crash with the help of actors and local first responders.
“Students are able to get a real life experience without it being an experience,” McMillian said.
For more information about the Department of Interdisciplinary Alcohol/Drug Studies Center and its safe driving programs, visit https://www.jsums.edu/iadsc/ or reach out by email at IADSC@jsums.edu or call 601-979-2276.
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