Fundación MAPFRE and MassDOT selected Natick High School students’ public service announcement promoting safer behavior among teens on the road
BOSTON – The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and Fundación MAPFRE today announced that students from Natick High School have been selected as winners in the Look Both Ways Road Safety PSA Contest. Students from Bishop Feehan High School and Northbridge were also selected as finalists.
High school students statewide were invited to create a script for a public service announcement to reach their peers with important road safety messages. The winning students worked with an advertising agency to produce the spot. The winning school also received $3,000 for road safety education, provided by Fundación MAPFRE.
The script from Natick High School freshmen Morgan Bienstock and Carly Golden was chosen among the many entries submitted by Massachusetts high school students to the Look Both Ways Road Safety PSA Contest, sponsored by Fundación MAPFRE and MassDOT. The students worked with Natick High School broadcast teacher Lynne Tartaglia-Ricciotti and Boston creative agency CTP to produce the PSA.
“This competition is a unique way of conveying the importance of road safety, especially to younger drivers,” said Jaime Tamayo, Chief Representative of Fundación MAPFRE in the United States and Chief Executive Officer of MAPFRE USA. “Through the creativity of their peers, a strong message is sent to embrace safe driving habits and make the roads safer for everyone.”
“This year, MassDOT and MAPFRE received a number of creative submissions from high school students that underscored the importance of road safety,” said Transportation Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt. “Public education is an important piece of MassDOT’s Vision Zero, and we are grateful for all of the work students are doing to promote safe habits amongst the next generation of roadway users.”
The Look Both Ways program aims to eliminate road-related fatalities and serious injury through efforts like the PSA contest. The program also created an interactive station that uses a virtual reality driving simulation experience and the React Challenge, a mobile game that tests students’ safe driving ability when faced with distractions behind the wheel.
According to the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan, roadway deaths in Massachusetts reached a 14-year high in 2021, increasing year-over-year since 2019, with 2022 trending higher. The state experienced 418 traffic fatalities in 2021, compared to 343 in 2020 and 336 in 2019. Nationally, nearly 43,000 people died in traffic crashes in 2021. From 2019 to 2021, the number of U.S. pedestrians killed increased by 18 percent (7,342 deaths) and the number of bicyclists killed increased by 16 percent (985 deaths), accounting for 19% of all U.S. traffic fatalities in 2021. In Massachusetts in the last five years, people walking and biking accounted for almost 22% of deaths on the roadways.
About Fundación MAPFRE’s Road Safety Initiative: Fundación MAPFRE, a non-profit based in Madrid, Spain, and with North American headquarters in Webster, Massachusetts, aims to promote the well-being of society and citizens. Prevention and Road Safety is an action area to which the foundation is dedicated. It believes that if the Vision Zero movement in 1997 led to a revolution in our understanding of Road Safety, the current goal should be to reach the point where there are no fatalities or people injured in traffic crashes.
About Fundación MAPFRE
Fundación MAPFRE is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to contribute to the progress of society, improve people’s quality of life and promote equal opportunities through activities carried out in more than 30 countries. In 2023, more than 6 million people benefited from its 34,000 actions in road safety, health, culture, social action and insurance culture.
Visit https://www.fundacionmapfre.org/en/ for more information about Fundación MAPFRE.
Contacts
Caitlin Creamer
ccreamer@mapfreusa.com