SUDBURY – It's National Teen Driver Safety Week in Sudbury, and community partners are holding workshops at secondary schools.
Students who drove to school on October 22 started their day off with a ticket from local officers.
"It's positive ticketing. So anyone who is coming into the school with their seatbelt on, with their phone not in their hand and positive driving habits, we're giving them a ticket," explained Constable Stefany Mussen, Greater Sudbury Police Service.
Several community organizations have partnered for National Teen Driver Safety Week.
"We come together and we really want to support safe roads, so we're doing anything that comes into that vision. And for that, we're going to three different schools and were doing any kind of activities that can help with education and awareness specifically around impaired driving," said Raymond Beaudry, Public Health Sudbury & Districts.
That's something St. Benedict's alumnus Jaymie Hancock knows all too well as she lost her brother DJ after an impaired driver collided with his car.
She shared her story with students and it resonated.
"Drug and alcohol impaired driving is one of the number one causes of deaths on the roads, which is huge, and I think we could definitely lower that number with education and informing young drivers that they have the power to change a family and change a person's life," said grade 12 student Adriana Cimino.
Along with impaired driving workshops, students also participated in distracted driving simulations.
Officers say it's important that drivers create good habits from the very beginning, and that sometimes it's as simple as putting your phone somewhere you can't access while driving.
