Batesville area teen drivers will soon receive a crash course in safe driving.
The Teen Driving Roadeo, a free event that will take place from 1-3 p.m. Saturday at the White-Rodgers facility in Batesville, will have stations and guest speakers to teach youths the importance of responsible driving.
Through a partnership among Allstate, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s Injury Prevention Center, Teen Driving Roadeos are held across the state, but this is the first to be held in the Batesville area, said Julie Reardon, Southside Junior High School EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology) program facilitator.
Reardon said the event, which has been in preparation for the past few months, will impact the community because there are “too many accidents around our county that are caused from not being responsible.”
Stations at the event will teach teens about auto care; the dangers of texting while driving and drunken driving; how to obtain student car insurance; and more. Representatives from the Batesville Police Department, Union Pacific, Scott Wood Dealership, State Farm Insurance and other entities will present workshops and have booths at the event.
After visiting all the stations, each teen will receive a certificate, a vehicle emergency kit and an entry into a drawing to win a free helicopter ride, courtesy of White River Medical Center.
Reardon said the event also aims to educate teens on the importance of being responsible drivers for the sake of others on the road.
“I just think that being a driver, regardless if you’re a teenager or an adult — responsibility is a big thing,” she said. “I feel like it’s hard to teach that kind of responsibility, especially with all the technology that we have. I think our teens need to know it’s not just them behind the driver’s wheel.”
Paige Hubbard and Hayes Olson, who both lost sons in the same car accident, will speak to the crowd at 2 p.m. about driving responsibly.
Reardon said that although the event is geared toward teens, their parents will also have an opportunity to learn new and beneficial information.
“I think a lot of parents will learn information about what could happen with their child, how to get insurance for a student driver, what responsibility that a parent has in having a teen driver and enforcing those rules,” Reardon said. “I just think that a lot of teens might not even be aware of a lot of the laws out there that can keep them safe.”
Reardon said the event isn’t just for teens who attend Batesville or Southside schools. The entire community, including residents of Newark and Cave City, are welcome to attend. Reardon said she would like to see more than 150 teens at the event.
Through Southside Junior High School’s EAST program, a student-based classroom that allows students to work on community projects, students have created posters to publicize the event.
“We basically have our students on board to help get the program going,” Reardon said.
Reardon said she hopes to see the event return to the area in future years.
“We’d like to make the event be big enough to have an impact on our community as our drivers grow up and as we have new drivers,” she said.
Reardon said she hopes that after visiting each booth, teens will exercise better judgment when on the road.
“The most important thing out of it all is teaching drivers how to do the right thing,” she said.
To register for the Teen Driving Roadeo, visit www.archildrens.org/ipc. For more information, call (501) 364-3400.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.