POWAY, Calif. — As holiday celebrations continue, one group of North County teens want to raise awareness of the dangers of getting behind the wheel while under the influence. Other than warnings against drunk driving, their message includes the threat of driving while "drugged."
Students held a rally in Poway Monday morning at the Poway Library against drugged driving.
Brenda Sanchez, a sophomore at Poway High School, says she only has one message for her community during the holiday season.
“I want to give my community a reminder that even though it’s the holiday season, we still need to keep our roads safe – not only for ourselves, but for other people as well,” Sanchez said.
She and a dozen other teenagers spent their holiday break making pre-rally posters in prep for Monday's multi-city awareness campaign to keep our roads safe against impaired drivers.
"There have been too many accidents happening in our communities, [so] it's not safe for anyone to go out in the streets anymore," said Michelle Bedoya, a freshman at Escondido Charter School.
Bedoya used blue paint to get across her point that taking pills behind the wheel isn’t a safe combination.
“A way to help prevent deaths is by getting the message out that everybody can do something about it,” said Lisa Bridges, senior program manager for Say San Diego.
Bridges’ organization, Social Advocates for Youth, deals heavily with alcohol and drug prevention across the county.
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“More and more people are testing positive for alcohol and other drugs, whether that's marijuana or prescriptions meds, [so] we want people to know that driving impaired is going to get you a DUI if you're stopped,” Bridges said.
The rallies, called "Keep Drugged Driving on Your Radar," take place before New Year's Eve every year. Last year's featured a crumpled car from a DUI crash, and young people took to the streets with signs highlighting the deadly impacts of drugged driving.
“We're helping to prevent people doing drugs on the road that way they won't get in car accidents,” said 14-year-old Katherine Velazquez, a freshman at San Pasqual High School.
More rallies are scheduled to take place at 3:30 p.m. in Mira Mesa, Escondido, Fallbrook and San Marcos.
December is National Drugged Driving Prevention month.