Distracted Driving Is Killing Us - It's Time to End DD: School Presentations This Week

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 28, 2014) - The founder of EndDD.org, Joel Feldman, is in British Columbia this week to bring a vitally important message to high school students, a message that has becoming increasingly important to deliver because the statistics on distracted driving are so grim.

Distracted driving is the largest cause of youth-involved crashes in British Columbia.

Distracted driving is even more dangerous than the deadly incidents of impaired driving in BC (In 2012, there were 88 fatalities related to distracted-driving, and 55 related to impaired-driving).

Statistically, distracted driving is the cause behind half of all crashes.

Today's Stark Statistical Reality: All distracted-driving crashes to date were 100% preventable.

But, here is one great stat, a big one: Through his presentations this week in BC, it's expected that Joel Feldman will reach the 200,000 mark of students his presentations have reached.

Joel's daughter Casey was killed in 2009 by a driver who was distracted. Joel is a lawyer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been working hard to prevent distracted driving, by making presentations to students and others -- as well as educating lawyers and law associations throughout North America to do the same.

"Our association is very proud to partner with Joel Feldman and EndDD.org to help make our streets safe, to prevent devastating injuries and deaths from occurring on our roads," said TLABC's executive director and CEO Carla Terzariol. "Distracted driving is not just dangerous, it is deadly."

Distracted driving goes far beyond the dangerous use of cell phones, and the sending and receiving of text messages. Those are big problems, but there are other forms of distracted driving, which Joel demonstrates through his presentations.

Statistics reveal that driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 results in a 4x greater likelihood of being in a crash, as does talking on a cell phone.

Texting alone takes one's eyes off the road for more than four seconds. That is equivalent to travelling more than the length of a football field blindfolded (going 100 kmph, one travels 30 metres per second, i.e. 100 metres).

Joel Feldman is leading the way with two presentations this week. Members of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC will conduct presentations throughout the province, beginning in the fall.

This Week:

Thursday, May 29 at 9:40 am

Notre Dame Regional Secondary School

2880 Venables Street, Vancouver

Friday, May 30 at 12:40 pm

Heritage Woods Secondary School

1300 David Avenue, Port Moody

NEWS MEDIA, PLEASE NOTE: Officials at Notre Dame Regional Secondary School have confirmed that they can accommodate media at the presentation. It will take place in the school gymnasium. However, due to the current labour dispute (teachers v. government), we do not as yet have a greenlight for media to attend in Port Moody. If you or your staff would like to attend, please email or call Bentley Doyle - bentley@tlabc.org, 604-682-5343 - and he can advise of any updates.

Here is the website for the US-based organization Joel Feldman founded: www.EndDD.org