TOLEDO, Ohio — Monday marks the beginning of Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
As the weather warms in April, the founder of 419 Driver Education is urging drivers to be careful when they are on the roads, especially teenagers.
The excitement, it’s warm, windows are down and music’s playing. I think [for] kids, it’s that sense of freedom, Amanda Trala said.
Trala, who is also a driving instructor at her school, said she notices an increase in distracted drivers during the warmer weather.
419 Driver Education, located at 5650 Central Ave., aims to teach young drivers safe practices by having a class focused on distracted driving.
The class runs for two weeks of in-person learning totaling 24 hours. Students then spend eight hours behind the wheel.
Bringing awareness to that is probably one of the most important parts right now for our teens that are going to be getting their license now and driving on their own this summer, Trala said. And in those eight hours, we are teaching them the hand control, foot control, where their eyes need to be, keeping good posture.
There have been nearly 27,500 youth-related crashes since 2021 in Lucas County, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
419 Driver Education is committed to reducing those numbers by teaching defensive driving, too.
We want our students to take a defensive action, Trala said, As far as that goes, maybe slowing their speed, moving them over to the side. But if you’re a distracted driver, you’re not going to catch those things so putting that into a student is important.
