Scholarship Winners!

The NC Alliance for Safe Transportation celebrated its first cohort of Teen Ambassadors this month with a ceremony and $500 scholarship awards for ambassadors who went above and beyond, encouraging their classmates to stay safe out there.

We’re excited about this program and will be opening applications for next year soon. Meanwhile, let’s hear from some of this year’s winners!

“The most important lesson I have learned here: Pay attention to your surroundings; you never know what the person behind you, or beside you, is going to do.”

- Sydney Martin

“A little over two years ago, my classmate died in a car crash. He was kind and did not deserve to die so young. Car crashes had always seemed rare and distant, but when they finally touched my life, they opened my eyes. I can no longer see the road the same way.”

- Camille Moody

“Serving as a Teen Ambassador this year has taught me the power of collaboration and the importance of advocacy. I learned that raising awareness isn’t just about speaking up, it's about listening, building trust, and meeting people where they are.”

- Barri Terry

“Before joining the program, I considered myself a safe driver. I wore my seatbelt most of the time and encouraged others to do the same. But being a part of NCAST pushed me to take my responsibility to a new level. It made me realize that safety isn't situational. It's essential every single time you get in a vehicle, no matter how short the trip. Crashes don’t wait for convenience.”

- Justice Washington

“Being an NCAST Teen Ambassador has taught me the importance of awareness. I make sure everyone in my vehicle is buckled up, my cell phone is put away and I am focused on the road. I also take opportunities when I see unsafe driving practices to point them out to young drivers and soon-to-be drivers so they know what to do and not to do.”

- Aylin McGowan

“I have learned how to have hard conversations about situations or past experiences that have shaped an individual, which will only allow me to grow as a leader.”

- Kyle Stinson

“They Save Lives”

Mothers who lost children to drunk driving crashes gathered at the North Carolina General Assembly last month to call for new legislation that they believe will prevent wrecks.

House Bill 789 would let someone charged with impaired driving voluntarily install an ignition interlock device - which measures blood alcohol level and disables the vehicle without a clean reading - between their arrest and their court date. Do that, and the driver could get a reduced sentence.

“A second chance to do the right thing,” Mothers Against Drunk Driving State Executive Director Emily Ferraro said during a press conference on the bill. “It offers a path to accountability.”

These devices are already required, post-conviction, for some drivers, and from 2006 through 2023 they stopped drivers from starting their vehicles 331,000 times. This bill would expand usage with a focus on first-time offenders.

“We must reach first time offenders before they become the tool that destroys someone’s life,” said Rosalind Reddick, who lost her only son Elijah in 2023.

There would be exceptions, including:

• The crash involved can’t have killed or seriously injured anyone.
  

• The defendant can’t have any other impaired driving charges or convictions at the time of the crash
  

• The defendant can’t have had a blood alcohol concentration of .15 or more.
  

The bill passed the North Carolina House with widespread, bipartisan support on May 1. The Senate hasn’t acted on it yet.

The NC Alliance for Safe Transportation participated in the press conference, with NCAST Chair Joe Stewart – who is also vice president of governmental affairs for the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina – saying the bill “will prevent crashes and injuries, and that helps keep car insurance rates from rising and prevents others from the pain and loss these families have experienced.”

Bears & Biscuits

Safety advocates, animal lovers and lawmakers gathered last month for breakfast to talk about state funding for wildlife crossings.

The hope is to build crossings, and the high fences needed to funnel bears, deer and other wildlife into those crossings, along western North Carolina highways as damage is repaired from Hurricane Helene.

The state Senate put $5.1 million into its budget proposal this year for the project. So far the House hasn’t agreed to the funding, and both sides have to agree before any money can move.

Advocates, who handed out small foam bears to direct people to the Safe Passage Wildlife Crossing Project, said the effort isn’t just about saving wildlife. Hitting a bear, or a deer - the most common wildlife collision - can be deadly for humans too, and these crashes cause millions in vehicle damage a year.

During the breeding season for deer roughly 40% of all collision repairs in North Carolina are due to animal crashes.

“If you build these crossings in the right location they can actually pay for themselves,” said Jeff Hunter, the Southern Appalachian Director for the National Parks Conservation Association.