MPD offers class to teach young people safe driving skills
Three Moscow Police officers trade in their gun and uniform once a month for an “Alive at 25” T-shirt. The officers opt to dress causal while teaching a program that educates young people about making good decisions while driving.
“Instead of being a driver education program, like you would get when getting your license, it’s more of a … knowledge based program to try to show kids good skills and make good decisions,” said Phil Gray, school resource officer with the Moscow Police Department.
He said officers prefer not to wear their gun and full uniform so they don’t intimidate their students and can interact with them on a more personal level.
Alive at 25 is a free course that was designed by the National Safety Council in 1995 in response to a study that showed traffic crashes were the leading cause of teen fatalities, causing 44 percent of teen deaths nationwide. The program has been implemented in six states including Idaho, Colorado, California, Maine, North Dakota and Wyoming.
Since Idaho adopted the program four years ago, Gray, along with Cpl. Bruce Lovell and Cpl. Art Lindquist, has taught the 4 1/2 hour class to teenagers and young adults aged 14-25. Gray said there is no need to have a driver’s license or permit to take the course.
Gray said he worked for Latah County for 14 years and saw 60-70 mph crashes, where vehicles would roll for 200 feet. In the city, he said fatalities are lower because the speed limit is lower. But he said people can still crash and get injured, so extra knowledge in safe driving and good decision-making is beneficial to everyone.
Gray said the class is beneficial to University of Idaho students, because many of them fall into the age group where car crashes are more likely to happen. He said the class reinforces good driving habits and teaches students how to react to road hazards.
Some of the topics covered in Alive at 25 are the statistics of fatalities in the students’ age group, how inexperience and distractions can be hazardous and how speeding, alcohol and drugs increase the risk of injury and death.
One reason Gray said people take the course is for ticket forgiveness.
“A lot of it is done through our City Prosecutor Erin Tomlin,” he said. “For example, if a kid gets a speeding ticket and it’s their first one, maybe two, what they can do is go see Erin and they’ll make a deal to go to this class.”
Although it is not a driver’s education class, Gray said they have taught the class to the driver’s education students at Moscow High School. Because those students don’t have experience making the critical driving decisions they will have to make as drivers, he said it is good knowledge for students to gain prior to driving.
Anyone in the respective age group can sign up online at the Alive at 25 website by choosing the state and following links to the correct course offered in their area. Gray said while there is usually a class size of eight to 25 people, they sometimes have to run the class with much fewer.
“We have run the class with like seven, because I think it’s at least reasonable for us to do that for the people that want to take the class,” he said. “We’re there to do the class, the three of us, because we really enjoy doing it. It’s a really good time and it’s really fun.”
Mary Malone can be reached at [email protected]