FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — A local company’s efforts brought a public awareness program dealing with distracted driving to area schools and universities.
In 2015, IA Construction regional manager Jon Miller wanted to make a difference in the community through a “No Texting and Driving” campaign which led to the company promoting it to schools throughout the region. The company offered a scholarship opportunity to students who submitted a poster regarding texting and driving. Two students from Keystone High School in Knox were selected as the winners and were awarded the scholarships.
Later that year, IA and its business partners created a golf outing that raised awareness and money for the program. The first event was held at Wanango Country Club with 80 players.
AT&T Representatives provided a hands-on experience by providing a car and virtual reality headset to help raise awareness of the dangers associated with texting and driving.
After seeing a video involving Jacy Good and the dangers of texting and driving, IA secured a date with Jacy and Steve to hold two assemblies at two different local schools in North Clarion and Rocky Grove.
“Since receiving the video and having it go full circle, the team at IA could not be more satisfied with the direction the No Texting and Driving campaign is headed,” IA Safety Engineer Jeremy Miller said. “We have had several business partners who saw the video at our outing ask if there is more they can do and some have even inquired about getting Jacy and Steve into schools in their local communities with our help. IA is proud to be involved in this campaign and is looking forward to continue to educate the local communities of the dangers of texting and driving in an effort to save lives.”
Jacy Good and Steve Johnson are nationally recognized public speakers and advocates for cell-free roads. Since Jacy’s miraculous recovery from the 2008 crash, caused by a distracted driver, that claimed the lives of both her parents and left her partially paralyzed, they have worked tirelessly to educate the country about the dangers of cell phone use behind the wheel.
Hang Up and Drive was presented last week at Keystone High School, Warren Area School, and Clarion University.
Since 2011, the couple has presented their program nearly 500 times.
Here is Jacy and Steve’s Story:
In August 2004, Jacy and Steve met the day that they both moved into a dorm as a freshman at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. A short three weeks later they shared their first kiss and the rest is, as they say, history.
After 3 ½ fantastic years together, they approached their May 2008 graduation day ready for “real life” to begin.
Steve was set to enter the banking world while Jacy had landed a dream job through AmeriCorps to be a team leader for Habitat For Humanity. They had plans for their careers as well as their lives together, but just hours after receiving their diplomas, they were thrust into a world of terror, uncertainty, and overwhelming sadness.
About halfway back to her childhood home in Lancaster, Pa., the car carrying Jacy and her parents was struck head-on by a tractor-trailer as both entered an intersection with green lights. The truck had swerved to try to avoid a man coming from the intersecting road who attempted to turn left through a red light. That man was talking on his phone at the time.
Jacy’s parents never left the scene, but an astounding series of fortunate events and unequaled medical care kept Jacy alive in the crumpled car, the ambulance ride, and through 8 ½ hours of surgery. She was given just a 10% chance of survival as she lay comatose and nearly unrecognizable in intensive care that first night. Steve spent 12 hours a day by her side through four months of hospitalization. Jacy’s laundry list of injuries have managed to heal through time (and a healthy dose of titanium rods, plates, and screws), but due to a traumatic brain injury, she is unable to use her left arm or lower leg and has minor lingering cognitive issues.
Jacy Begins Campaign for Cell Phone Ban
Less than a year after that life-altering tragedy, Jacy began to campaign for a cell phone ban in her native Pennsylvania. This unexpectedly triggered an avalanche of interview requests and public appearances. Since April of 2010, Jacy has been on The Oprah Winfrey Show, a guest of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the United Nations, a “Hero Among Us” in People Magazine, a speaker at Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference, on NPR’s Car Talk, and been featured in dozens of articles, television news pieces, and press conferences nationwide. Most recently, in January 2015 Jacy was profiled on CNN’s The Human Factor.
Since 2011, they have spoken at over 750 events across the country to well over 200,000 people, encouraging the public to make safer choices, companies to develop and enforce cell phone policies, and legislators to put in place the necessary laws to protect the public.
For more information on Hang Up and Drive, visit https://www.hangupanddrive.com.
