SAFE or Seatbelts Are For Everyone is a Kansas student-led initiative which aims to encourage people to wear seatbelts while driving. GCHS StuCo partakes in this initiative trying to help drivers be safer on the road. 

“We are a part of SAFE and through that we have the opportunity to do outreach events to encourage people to drive safely, wear their seatbelts and seatbelt pledges. We were able to give away some car safety kits, some gift cards among other things we have planned for the rest of the semester,” Kylee Hipp, StuCo advisor, said.

One of SAFE’s goals is getting students to pledge to wearing seatbelts. 

“We had pledge cards that people would sign, pledging that they would wear their seatbelts at all times, and we’re doing it to bring awareness about safetiness in cars,” Liliana Romero, Health sophomore, said.

Along with having students pledge to wear seatbelts, StuCo also conducts surveys in the mornings and afternoons. 

“We have the pledges that get filled out, and we get to hang those around the school, but then we also do our surveys, which you will see kids a couple times a year out in the morning, in the afternoon, with a clipboard and we just mark how many we see wearing their seatbelts or not. Are they distracted? Are their passengers wearing their seatbelts? Then we send that into the state,” Hipp said. 

Seatbelts are important when accidents happen. 

“If you actually look at the statistics, and everything else going on, seatbelts are important and can eliminate many tragic accidents [from happening], PJ Foster, SRO, said. 

Along with watching for seatbelts during surveys, StuCo also noticed that a lot of drivers are distracted. 

“We actually see a lot of students wearing their seatbelts, however it is kind of common to see them distracted whether it’s on their phone or eating or talking to the people in the car with them. Distractions are basically anything that’s taking your attention away from the road,” Hipp said. 

StuCo has noticed differences through their surveys. 

“Last year we noticed that people did wear their seatbelts, they increased it after we brought awareness about it,” Romero said. 

SAFE’s goals are to prevent people from getting hurt. 

“A lot of car accidents are preventable due to these [distractions], and injuries are preventable due to wearing or not wearing your seatbelt,” Hipp said.