Editorial: Safety worth sharing

Kendal Gowan, from Karamu High School, tries to put keys in a car's ignition, while wearing impairment googles as Constable Chris Leppien looks on at the HB Youth Alcohol Expo. Photo/Warren Buckland

If you have a teenager in your family nearing the age where they can sit their driver's licence, today is the last chance to get them down to this year's Hawke's Bay Youth Alcohol Expo at the Pettigrew Green Arena.

The driving force behind the expo, Senior Constable Ian Cheyne and Roadsafe Hawke's Bay regional manager Linda Anderson, are pleased with the reaction from youth attending.

Hopefully the message will sink in. It's not cool to drink and drive and it's not okay to text while driving.

The more exposure the youth of today get to the horrors of the aftermath of crashes caused by drunk drivers or drivers playing with their phones the better.

There are video presentations which show the terrible consequences serious crashes have on, not only those involved, but their families as well.

Of course it doesn't stop there. The ripple effect reaches friends and friends of friends, especially when someone is killed.

Teenagers spend a lot of time with and talking to their friends.

In fact, at that time of life, I'd go so far as to say their friends are more important to them than their family.

So going with their friends to an expo like this and talking about it, maybe all agreeing that they will never ever get into a car with a drunk driver, has got to be a good thing.

As our roads become more and more congested motorists need to ensure they are concentrating only on the task at hand ... driving.

I'm not just talking about teenagers here, every driver has a duty to ensure they get from A to B safely without harming themselves, their passengers or other road users.