IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2005
Teen Driving Classroom Previews at
Cartersville High School
Drivers Education of the Future
The
Joshua Brown Foundation will hold a special preview of a new teen driver’s
education program utilizing the latest in technology and educational
methods. The event will be held at Cartersville High School, 320 East
Church Street, Cartersville, Georgia, at 1:30 PM. Guest speakers include
State Senator Preston Smith and Bob Dallas, Director of the Governor’s
Office of Highway Safety.
“Defining teen driving and knowing how teens learn today is the key to
developing a successful drivers training program,” says Alan Brown, Chairman
of the Joshua Brown Foundation. “The Joshua Brown Foundation was organized
to address the challenges of returning the opportunity of driver’s education
to teens and their families. The first goal of funding the program was
accomplished with the passage of Joshua’s Law this past year in the Georgia
General Assembly. The second goal of program development and research is
now being shared nationally.”
The
Joshua Brown Foundation has developed a teen driving educational curriculum
that encompasses the look of how teens learn in the 21st
century. Based on the most recent findings by education professionals, the
driver’s training program has been updated to maximize the new learning
skills that have been developed over the past decade by the recreational and
educational use of computers and video graphic technology. The training
program also connects parents and teens through practical driving
experiences and computerized reports of student’s driving performance.
RoadWise, Inc., a Georgia company, developed a comprehensive computerized
curriculum that includes financial and safety responsibility, defensive
driving techniques, driving rules, and driving decision-making skills.
ADEPT Driver, from Sacramento, California, provides a crash reduction
program addressing six key contributing factors contributing to a majority
of teen crashes and parental guides. Simulator Systems International (SSI),
located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, contributes a high-tech interactive driving
simulator designed to present advanced real-life scenarios of risky driving
situations. Included in the program is course instruction on establishing
the correct attitude and behavior skills necessary for a lifetime of driving
taught by the National Safety Council, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Students are encouraged to continue with behind-the-wheel training.
The Joshua Brown Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit foundation, was organized
because Joshua Brown’s parents realized too late that driver’s education
might have saved his life. When Joshua lost control of his vehicle on a wet
road, he did not know what to do. Within one year of their only son’s
death, Alan and LuGina Brown successfully raised a quarter of a million
dollars to provide driving simulators and training to Joshua’s former high
school, organized a non-profit dedicated to safer teen driving, and passed
Joshua’s Law in the Georgia General Assembly in one session with
overwhelming support. The legislation provided for a Commission to oversee
distribution of funding from a 5% fee on all traffic violations set aside
for teen driver’s education throughout Georgia.
For
more information, contact Pat Wilder, 678-797-2303 or
pat.wilder@joshuabrownfoundation.org.
