MORNING STAR • OcTObeR 14 - 20, 2010
PAGe 9
Motorists are concerned about distracted drivers on the road
NEW FLAG - The fifth grade at Central Elementary School are pictured here with the American flag that they recently made for Walter Reed Hospital.
Miss Neicy ‘keeps it real’ for her students Continued from page eight
like an eternity. She’s as proud as if she actually was the child’s biological mother. She likes to talk about one teenage girl who’s life she helped turn around just this year, a young lady who now comes by to visit on occasion, is holding down a job and even goes to church with her every now and then. Her future is now much brighter than it was a year ago, thanks in part to “Miss Neicy.”
Says Robinson: “She’s just starting to do more positive things and is asking more questions about how to involve herself in other activities, which is good.” Esther “Miss Neicy” Robinson moved to Laurel in 1986 and has spent the last 24 years trying her best to make a difference in the lives of young people throughout western Sussex County. She teaches, she mentors, she comforts and she supports – but most of all, she “keeps it real.”
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Fifty-two percent of drivers said they feel less safe on the roads now than they did five years ago, according to the thirdannual 2010 Traffic Safety Culture Index just released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The leading reason cited by American drivers was distracted driving, with 88 percent of motorists rating drivers who text and email as a very serious threat to their safety. The study showed that the majority of drivers (62 percent) feel that talking on a cell phone is a very serious threat to safety, but they do not always behave accordingly or believe that others share these views. In fact, nearly 70 percent of those surveyed admitted to talking on their phones and 24 percent said they read or sent text messages or emails while driving in the previous month. To help change the current culture of complacency, the AAA Foundation and AAA are holding their second annual Heads Up Driving Week: Try it for a week, do it for life, from Sept. 26-Oct. 3, to generate awareness of the safety risks of distracted driving and to encourage drivers to eliminate their distractions behind the wheel. Motorists are encouraged to sign a pledge to drive distraction-free during Heads Up Driving Week with the goal to permanently reduce their distracted driving behaviors. To learn the facts about distracted driving, sign the pledge and/or
view tips on how to eliminate distractions, visit www.AAAFoundation.org/headsup. As part of AAA’s commitment to improving highway safety for all road users, the auto club launched a legislative campaign in 2009 to ban texting while driving in all 50 states. AAA’s national legislative campaign has helped lead 11 more states to enact laws against this risky driving behavior this year, bringing the total to 30 states and the District of Columbia. On the local level in Delaware, AAA Mid-Atlantic supported the passage of House Schedule 1 to House Bill 229, which prohibits texting while driving and the use of handheld cell phones while operating a motor vehicle, however, it allows for the use of hands-free cell phones. Governor Markell signed the bill into law on July 7, and it will go into effect on Jan. 2, 2011.
Return Day convertibles
The Sussex County Return Day committee is making the final preparations for the Return Day parade on Nov. 4. As part of our preparation, we are requesting for those who have convertibles and would like to escort dignitaries through the Return Day parade, to contact the Sussex County Return Day office at 855-0722. If you have any questions, call the Return Day office and leave a message with your name and phone number.