ThedaCare's annual FOCUS Program at Appleton's PAC, Oct. 11, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Thousands of teens from across the area are focusing on the dangers of risky driving behaviors.
ThedaCare’s annual FOCUS program empowers students to make safe choices by shedding light on those risks, and their potential life-changing outcomes.
Charlene Sligting knows what it’s like to lose someone she loves due to distracted driving.
“My dad was killed three days before Father’s Day,” said Sligting. “I never gave him his card, I still have it.”
Students from dozens of school districts joined together to listen to her story, at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.
In June of 2007, Charlene’s father was coming home from work on his motorcycle. A teen driver on the phone with her mom, ended up running a stop sign and striking him.
“We also found out that she had cannabis in her system afterwards, so she was not only distracted, she was also impaired,” said Sligting.
This year’s FOCUS program is focusing on motorcycle crashes and injuries, peer pressure and delta-8.
“What you saw in that video represents the emotional part of my life that I’m still emotional about,” said Sligting.
FOCUS stands for:
- Focus on driving
- Others are affected
- Clear distractions
- Understand that substances impair judgement
- Safely reach your destination
It features a range of speakers, along with showing students reenactments of potential situations that could happen while driving distracted or impaired.
“I was actually running late for just a fun day with my friends when I was younger, and I had a series of those decisions that I did not make a safe choice, I did not clear my windshield all the way,” said Brooke Wedeward.
In January of 2013, when Wedeward was driving, her window refogged and she didn’t wait for it to clear.
“Went around the corner, and was driving into the sun and was blinded,” said Wedeward.
She hit a garbage truck driver, pinning him between the truck and her car. The truck driver survived, but lost his leg.
“My point is to make sure that, you know, we understand what all of those small choices can do and who they can affect,” said Wedeward.
Wedeward says part of the reason why she and the person she hit are part of the FOCUS program, is to show students a visual representation of what that looks like.
“Because saying that your life is affected is a very vague statement and without some sort of visual or some sort of specific understanding of what that is, it might not hit kids the same way who haven’t had that same responsibility,” said Wedeward.
According to AAA, drivers talking on a cellphone are up to four times as likely to crash while those who text are up to eight times as likely to be involved in a crash.
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