State Farm® recently awarded the Harnett County Sheriff's Office with a Good Neighbor Citizenship grant for $7,500 to support the LIFE (Life is Fragile Enough) program at five high schools in Harnett County.
The program gives students a safe environment to experience preventable dangers on the road. Students navigate pedal carts through courses while texting or wearing goggles to simulate distracted driving and drunk driving, respectively. Students will learn the consequences of their actions, ranging from jail time to fines insurance costs.
"Collisions are the No. 1 killer of our teens," said State Farm Agent Brian Hicks. "The Harnett Sheriff's Office, with support from State Farm, is trying to change that statistic. If we can convince one teen to put their phone down behind the wheel, we've succeeded."
State Farm recently released a survey of nearly 1,000 motorists that shines a light on a growing safety concern: people accessing the Internet while driving. Four years of data show a significant increase in the use of mobile web services while driving. Forty-eight percent of drivers aged 18-29 reported accessing the Internet while driving. That is up from 29 percent in 2009. The increase in the number of people owning smart phones likely contributes to the trend.
A survey released in April shows teen texting-while-driving rates are still at a crisis level. Collisions continue to be the No. 1 killer of teens.
The Sheriff's Office is working with the school system to require the course for all new teen drivers.
Amy Preddy, State Farm Public Affairs, (434) 872-5211.
State Farm and its affiliates are the largest provider of car insurance in the U.S. and is a leading insurer in Canada. In addition to providing auto insurance quotes, their 17,800 agents and more than 65,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts - more than 79 million auto, home, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles, is also available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 43 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit http://www.statefarm.com or in Canada http://www.statefarm.ca.
