Trumbull high school safe-driving program begins for fifth year

Staff report

NILES

High-school students from across Trumbull County convened last week at the Trumbull County Educational Service Center to begin planning for the 2015-16 school year Students Making A Safer Highway, or S.M.A.S.H.

S.M.A.S.H., now in its fifth year, is a program designed to educate students who have a driver’s license on the dangers associated with making poor decisions behind the wheel.

The program focuses on excessive speed, failure to wear a seat belt, impaired driving and distracted driving.

S.M.A.S.H. students are selected by their school administrators to participate. They take the message back to their schools and present it to their peers, typically in the form of an assembly.

“Students have a better concept of how to relate to their peers,” said Lt. Brian Holt, Southington Post commander for the Ohio State Highway Patrol. “The feedback from students around Trumbull County has been favorable, and we have seen a decrease in ‘youthful-driver’ involvement in fatal crashes.”