Powerful presentation to show irreparable damage caused by distracted driving
day to urge others to avoid distracted driving. |
october 5, 2012
Like most young people, Jacy Good's college
graduation day in May 2008 was supposed to be one of the greatest days
of her life. As she and her parents gathered at Muhlenberg College in
Allentown, Pennsylvania to celebrate the special day, Jacy was looking
forward to her dreams of becoming an environmental and human rights
advocate.
Shortly after the graduation ceremony and the celebratory embraces,
Jacy's dreams were shattered; she was fighting for her life after a
horrific car accident. "No one expected that I would live past the first
36 hours," Good said.
A young man caused the accident that took the lives of Jacy's parents
and left Jacy critically injured, with just a 10 percent chance of
survival. The boy was using his cell phone at the time—too distracted to
realize that he was going through a red light.
Jacy was a fighter. Over
the next several months, she had to re-learn how to walk, talk and feed
herself. Today, she is permanently disabled, but tours the country to
share her story and speak out against distracted driving. She wears a
sign on her back each day explaining that her injuries were caused by
distracted driving and urging everyone she meets to hang up and drive.
"Distracted driving has caused so much physical and emotional pain in my
life and I never want anyone to go through what I've been through.
Deaths and injuries from cell phone use behind the wheel are senseless
and 100 percent preventable," Good said.
Good will bring her message to Schuylerville High School on Thursday,
October 18, 2012, speaking to students in grades 9-12. Her powerful
presentation, "Hang Up and Drive!" was created to facilitate
face-to-face discussion about the realities of distracted driving. The
presentation, which includes images of Good attached to tubes in the
hospital and struggling to re-learn how to walk and talk, will take
place at 9:30 a.m. in the Schuylerville High School Auditorium. Good has
also shared her message on the Oprah Winfrey Show, at Maria Shriver's
Women's Conference and at the United Nations.
The event in Schuylerville will include an opportunity during lunch
periods for students to pledge not to drive distracted. Insurance agent
John Lofrumento, who is involved in many community service projects
related to the issues of distracted driving, is coordinating the pledge
activity, while both events are supported by the district's SADD
(Students Against Destructive Decisions) Club.
For more information on this event, please call the Schuylerville High
School Main Office at (518) 695-3255, ext. 2232.
