PADDD, Inc. - June 4,2003 Baltimore Sun Article

Realities of reckless driving

Program: Nurses and others show convicted speeders and drunken drivers what could happen in an accident.

Sun Staff

Lisa Goldberg

Laurel Stiff held up each of the tools of her trade -- a virtual cornucopia of invasive, lifesaving tubes, pins and needles -- and repeated her mantra.

The longtime trauma nurse had spent the past several minutes drilling the realities and consequences of fast, reckless driving into the heads of the 51 people staring at her from the hard benches in Howard District Courtroom 5. She figured it couldn't hurt to say it again.

"We can't always fix what you do," Stiff told the mostly young, mostly male group as she explained how each tube and needle would be inserted into their bodies. "Are you getting that message?"

It was a message that would be replayed over and over again Monday night under the glare of the fluorescent lights. A flight paramedic told grisly tales of mangled accident scenes. Victims and their families reminisced about their pain and grief on video or while standing in front of those in attendance. A funeral home director added up the costs, emotional and financial, of burying loved ones.

They were preaching to a court-ordered crowd, one that has swelled in numbers over the past few months as Howard District Court judges have begun to take advantage of a new alternative sentencing program in the county.

The brainchild of Debbie Yohn and Stiff, both nurses at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, the PADDD program -- Positive Alternatives to Dangerous and Destructive Decisions -- has become a graphic choice for Howard judges wrestling with how to get the message across to young people unaware of or unconcerned about the dangers of driving at excessive speeds.

"I look at some of these kids who are speeding ... and say, `Weren't you in school when classmates of yours died?' " said Howard District Judge Sue-Ellen Hantman. An Atholton student was killed on the last day of classes in 2001 in an accident attributed to speeding.

"Hopefully, this hits home," said Hantman, one of two county district judges whose initial interest led to a meeting with the nurses.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics for 2001, nearly a third of fatal car crashes were caused, in part, by speeding. Young male drivers ages 15 to 20 were more likely than any other group to be involved in fatal speed-related accidents. Drivers ages 16 to 20 were involved in more than a quarter of speed-related crashes in Maryland that same year, according to the State Highway Administration.

"You're all young. You're healthy. You probably never thought it could happen to you," Yohn told participants near the start of the three-hour class. "Yet it keeps the trauma center busy."

Stiff and Yohn, who work in prevention at Shock Trauma but run PADDD through a nonprofit group, started the program in St. Mary's County several years ago but stopped holding classes there when Yohn's son, now 3, was born.

They now run the Howard program, which started in April, and an older one in Harford County, which originally was geared toward drunken drivers but has been getting an increased number of speeders. They say they're looking to expand their reach.
`Makes you scared'

"We're hoping [participants] are going to wake up, they're going to think about it," Yohn said. "It really makes you scared sometimes when you do what I do."

In Howard, the program has become another option for judges, who have been sentencing speeders to the state Motor Vehicle Administration's driver improvement programs, which tend to be more regulation-focused. They have also sent drunken drivers to Mothers Against Drunk Driving's victim-impact panels.

Judges have referred 201 people, mostly speeders, to the program, said Neil Dorsey, director of the Howard County sheriff's office community service section, which administers PADDD. About 70 percent have been male, and the average age of participants is 24, he said.

Most in a recent class had been driving at speeds up to 100 mph. One class included a father and son caught driving 135 mph on their motorcycles, Dorsey said.

Chekwon Kim, a 26-year-old Columbia resident, said he has been known to drive his motorcycle at 150 mph. He was at the program because he drove after his license had been revoked.

"This really showed me what kind of damage I could have done to myself and other people," said Kim, who works as a deli manager. "I should have learned that a long time ago."

Stiff and Yohn make a point to underscore speed, even though many of the stories they tell involve drunken driving.

In some cases, they make it personal. One of the stories on the video relates the death of the 3-year-old son of one of Yohn's cousins.

Maryland State Police Sgt. Walter A. Kerr, a flight paramedic, talked about his responsibilities as the father of a teen-age girl -- before detailing the crashes he has seen.
Woman's experience

And then Judy Kressig, who was drunk and high when she crashed her car 17 years ago at age 25, correlated her experience to the dangers of excessive speeding.

"You guys chose to drive fast. Shock Trauma doesn't let you die fast," the Taylorsville woman said, her speech slurred, her right arm held awkwardly at her side, her gait stiff. "Keep that in mind, folks." 1. Laurel Stiff, a longtime trauma nurse, addresses a group sentenced by District Court judges to participate in Positive Alternatives to Dangerous and Destructive Decisions in a courtroom in Howard County. The program started in Howard in April.
2. Laurel Stiff, who along with Debbie Yohn developed PADDD, shows those attending the program a tracheotomy tube, which is used to help pa tients who can not breathe on their own.
3. Sgt. Walter A. Kerr of the state police aviation division discusses being responsible for one's choices during a PADDD class.

KARL MERTON FERRON : SUN STAFF PHOTOS