It doesn’t take a bunch of adults to explain the problem of distracted and impaired driving. Just look at the artwork created by area kids, including 11-year-old Natalie Williams of Great Bend.

She was one of three children who won honors in the south central regional “Put the Brakes on Fatalities” poster contest sponsored by among other agencies, the Kansas Department of Transportation. Her work featured a Pokemon character warning a driver to stop playing Pokemon Go while behind the wheel.

Sadly, we big people often don’t listen to the simple wisdom of youth.

“It took just one person. One person who made a choice.  One person who chose to drink.  One person who chose to drink a lot. One person who then chose to get behind the wheel of his car. One person killed two precious young lives,” said Barby Jobe of Wichita. Jobe was telling about the night her daughter, Kylie, and her boyfriend, Kyle, were killed on I-70 five years ago.

Two years ago, Miss Kansas 2016 Kendall Schoenekase was a passenger in a crash caused by distracted driving. 

“I relive those moments frequently as a registered nurse,” Schoenekase said. “I am reminded over and over again how, in the blink of an eye, my life was almost taken from me.”

Jobe and Schoenekase were joined by Interim Transportation Secretary Richard Carlson and Kansas Highway Patrol Col. Mark Bruce at the annual Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day news conference at the Capitol earlier this week. The campaign strives to decrease traffic fatalities. 

Members of Students Against Destructive Decisions from high schools across Kansas as well as other transportation safety partners and law enforcement officials attended the event.

Secretary Carlson talked about his granddaughters who were in a vehicle crash a few years ago.

“My wife Cheryl rushed to the scene and saw the mangled remains of their vehicle,” he said. “We were all so very upset, and it took many weeks for them to recover. But I’m glad to report that both granddaughters are doing great now.”

Unfortunately that isn’t always the case. Last year, 358 people were killed in traffic crashes across Kansas.

“That is why we’re here – to help put the brakes on fatalities,” Carlson said.

We can listen to the words of these adults or we can view the posters made by insightful kids and come away with the same message. 

Dale Hogg