National Passenger Safety Week Campaign Encourages Passengers to Speak Up for Their Own Safety

Don't worry about being a 'back-seat driver' when it comes to saving lives, experts say

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Passengers can make a difference in reducing the number of devastating traffic crashes by speaking up when in a vehicle being driven unsafely. That's the message from dozens of traffic safety organizations during National Passenger Safety Week, January 20-27, 2025.

The campaign was initially launched by We Save Lives and The National Road Safety Foundation, two non-profit groups whose focus is on highway safety.

For the third year in a row, National Passenger Safety Week empowers passengers to "SPEAK UP" when their lives are in danger due to a reckless driver, especially when they witness any of the three most frequent and persistent behavioral safety factors in fatal crashes:

• People in motor vehicles not wearing seat belts
• Driving while impaired from alcohol
• Speeding

Distracted driving is also on the list, as an estimated 3,308 people were killed in crashes that involved distracted drivers, and 289,310 were injured in 2022; advocates believe the total number of victims is even higher.

Passengers accounted for 24 percent of passenger vehicle fatalities nationwide in 2020, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"Speaking up can prevent tragedies on the road," said Michelle Anderson, director of operations at The National Road Safety Foundation, a non-profit founded more than 60 years ago to promote safe driving behavior through education. "When it comes to saving lives, we want people to know it's ok to be a 'back-seat driver.'"

"I had to learn how to speak up when I became a full-time passenger," said We Save Lives founder Candace Lightner, a leading traffic safety advocate since 1980, when her 13-year-old daughter Cari was killed by a repeat-offender drunk driver. "One in four people killed in crashes are passengers. Their lives are literally on the line every time they step into a vehicle. We need to stop worrying about being an anxious passenger or a busybody, but to ask if we love ourselves enough to speak up."

More than 60 traffic safety and advocacy groups nationwide will encourage passengers to SPEAK UP with a campaign that will include a nationwide media blitz, social media outreach and involvement from groups including the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents traffic safety offices in all 50 states, the National Safety Council and youth advocacy groups SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and FCCLA, with more than 600,000 student members. 

The campaign includes distribution of materials about how to speak out, scripts and videos giving examples of when and how to SPEAK UP, and calls for people to sign the "Courage to Intervene" promise. 

Visit nationalpassengersafety.org for more information and to sign the Courage to Intervene promise.

We Save Lives, founded by in 2014 by Candace Lightner, is an umbrella organization of more than 50 highway safety advocates, law enforcement agencies, companies, local, state, national and international organizations, victim's/survivor groups, and others who want to stop the carnage on our highways. She also founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) in 1980.

The National Road Safety Foundation, founded in 1962, produces free videos and teaching materials on distracted driving, speed and aggression, impaired driving, drowsy driving, driver proficiency, pedestrian safety and a host of other safety issues. It also sponsors contests to engage teens in promoting safe driving to their peers and in their communities, partnering nationally with youth advocacy groups including SADD, FCCLA, Impact Teen Drivers and Teens in the Driver Seat, and with major auto shows in Chicago and Detroit.

Media Contact: David Reich
david@nrsf.org
914 325-9997

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SOURCE The National Road Safety Foundation