Class promotes safer roads

By Erica Kritt, Times Staff Writer

Monday, February 18, 2008

Debbie Yohn, a Manchester resident, said she wants drivers to understand they are not alone on the road.

“We all share the roads,” she said.

A bad decision by one person affects many other drivers, said Yohn, who works as a nurse at University of Maryland Shock Trauma in Baltimore.

“If people could see what we see everyday it would change some habits,” she said.

Yohn and nurse Laurel Stiff decided to start Positive Alternatives to Dangerous and Destructive Decisions, a three-hour class that shows drivers through pictures and descriptions what being in an accident and going to Shock Trauma is like and how to prevent accidents and other dangerous behavior.

The class, which is primarily targeted at high-risk drivers sent to the program by a judge or lawyer, is held at the Westminster Senior and Community Center every other month. The next class is Saturday at noon.

“The community needs to know we are here and they can send their young drivers,” she said.

Yohn said after last week’s two fatal car accidents on Md. 27, it’s a very important message.

“We need to get our kids to slow down,” she said. “I think people are driving faster than they’ve ever been, it’s disastrous.”

Yohn said teenagers often feel invincible and the message has to be repeated over and over that one bad decision could cost them their lives.

According to the Maryland State Highway Administration, the state averages 630 vehicle fatalities every year as a result of a vehicle crash or incident.

SHA helps to fund PADDD and uses the program to help educate drivers.

“Essentially PADDD is an important partner with getting the message of safety out to drivers before an accident,” said Lora Rakowski, spokeswoman for SHA.

The program, which is typically mandatory through courts, can also accept some people who voluntarily want to take the class or want their child to participate in the class, Yohn said.

“[The judges] don’t want to just give out a ticket,” she said. “They want people to have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.”

The program holds classes in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Cecil, Harford and Howard counties and Yohn said the focus of each session is dependent on the judges in the county.

Yohn said she spent more than a year recovering after she was involved in a drunken-driving accident that broke her back. The classes also feature a lecture from a victim of an incident who describes the struggles and stressan accident has had on their lives.

Yohn said hearing first-hand is an effective tool.

The final part of the class tells drivers strategies to use when on the road.

“Leave and give yourself plenty of time so you don’t feel pressure to speed,” Yohn said. Another thing most people don’t think about is paying too much attention to the music they listen to, she said.

“I hear a lot that people say they get wrapped up in the beat of the music,” she said.

Yohn suggested playing music with a softer beat.

Reach staff writer Erica Kritt at 410-857-7876 or erica.kritt@carrollcountytimes.com.

INFORMATION

To find out more information about the classes visit www.paddd.com; e-mail info@paddd.com; or call 410-530-7455.