Teens unaware driving behavior is risky
UPI – July 21
…Dr. Nancy Rhodes of the University of Alabama said her studies show teens experiment with different types of risky behavior, but risk-taking is especially dangerous behind the wheel of a car, and is prominent with high-school age young adults. Rhodes’ studies show that risky behaviors can include taking a curve too fast, being distracted by passengers or talking on a cell phone — behaviors that teens often don’t define as risky. “Teens can look around them and see everyone else, including their parents, doing things they shouldn’t while driving, such as using a cell phone, speeding or playing with the radio,” Nita Hestevold of the University of Alabama Institute for Social Science Research. “They don’t understand that, while this behavior is unsafe for all drivers, younger drivers are less experienced and have not yet automated their driving skills, so the same behaviors put teen drivers at higher risk of crashing,” he said. Teenage drinking and driving only accounts for 10 percent of teens’ crashes. “For teens, bad choices are more likely to be made because of teens’ inexperience and social pressures,” Hestevold said.
ALCOHOL EDU Starts at UA
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – July 21
…at the University of Alabama, freshmen there are required to take the online course and pass…surveys from thousands of students who completed the course say it did teach them something. Margaret Garner: “They believe that the students have the opportunity to learn the basic foundational information which helps to equip them in making better critical thinking decisions.”
Education briefs
Birmingham News – July 22
Students from Greene County will have photographs they took on display through Aug. 15 at the William McKinley Branch Courthouse in Eutaw. The students are the second group to participate in the Black Belt 100 Lenses project, which is run by the Black Belt Community Foundation and the University of Alabama Center for Community-Based Partnerships.
UA Holds Camp to Spark Interest in Engineering
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – July 19
…This is where we have all our junior members come here to the University of Alabama to spark their interest in engineering…