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Start Smart Teen Driving Class Hits Home After SR-52 Crash

After a local tragedy on the road, East County teens and parents learn more about making the right decisions while driving.

See the NBC San Diego video

Local teen drivers and their parents, still emotionally raw from the that , , and left the drivers in , met for a class with the with the intent to prevent such an incident from happening to them.

is a program for new drivers and parents to help them clearly understand their responsibilities when a teen starts to drive.

"We're here to learn to make the right decisions," Deputy Mike Spears told the students at the beginning of the class.

, racing, speeding, wearing your seatbelt, , , and the conditions of a provisional license are just a few of the topics included in the class.

"The timing is tragic, but we cannot walk away from our responsibility of educating teens," the Sheriff's Department said.

"What happened on SR-52 is exactly what our program has been trying to prevent."

The mother of, Ericka Morris, a student who is in class with one of the injured crash victims shed a tear when talking about the SR-52 crash.

"Even a small distraction can cause a major accident... it's scary and it really hit home to these kids," she said.

Ericka said the crash was hard to believe at first.

"To see someone my age go through what they're going through... it makes it more real," she said.

The started following a deadly string of teen crashes in San Diego County.

Normally a that has actually been in a car wreck is shown to the teens, but due to the recent tragedy, this was not shown at this meeting.

Future local Start Smart classes can be found at the events page

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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Fotis Tsimboukakis May 21, 2013 at 03:56 pm
I think the communities, Santee here, should band together and raise that money for schoolRead More supplies,instead of the teachers. I for one would throw in the first $100. I think between the residents and the local businesses we could raise the $10,000 to $15,000 that I am guessing would be needed. In Scripps Ranch, where both my kids attended school, the parents banded together and covered a HALF A MILLION shortfall in no time about 9 years ago during the cuts. And you don't have to have kids in school now to contribute. I don't anymore,BUT GOOD PUBLIC education with the right tools BENEFITS ALL AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICA MOST OF ALL. So I am first.
Steven Bartholow (Editor) May 16, 2013 at 03:53 pm
Thanks for posting this. I also added this to our events list. In the future I suggest posting anRead More announcement and event for maximum exposure- http://santee.patch.com/posts/event/new Good luck with the fundraiser!
RainWaterSystems May 17, 2013 at 10:58 am
That's awesome! We wish you success and recovery. We suggest two books; A Purpose Driven Life byRead More Rick Warren and Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. I hope to be in a position to hire a salesman this fall.
Steven Bartholow (Editor) May 16, 2013 at 10:34 am
Anyone else recommend a Santee family owned business that's outside the city?
Steven Bartholow (Editor) May 20, 2013 at 02:31 pm
Search for "Quail Brush" in the search bar in the top right corner.Read More http://santee.patch.com/search?keywords=Quail+Brush
Retha Knight May 17, 2013 at 11:05 pm
Where do you type what you want to view, like "Quail Brush"?
Steven Bartholow (Editor) May 17, 2013 at 10:01 am
No drop down menus, just click the header links for more options. For story categories click newsRead More and look on the left hand column. I know the redesign will take a bit to get used to, but I really think it will be a better site for community engagement, and easier to use. Feel free to post your feedback to the redesign on the boards, I'll check it out and respond, but you might also send your feedback straight to Patch headquarters with this form- http://feedback.aol.com/rs/rs.php?sid=patch Engineers will be furiously tweeking the new site based on your suggestions.
Mike Walker April 23, 2013 at 01:20 pm
this is why the battlefield has changed temporarily from the political arena to the Energy Arena.Read More Co Gen Tricks and the usual suspects are making their big money bet on two inevitable facts that will force the hand of the CPUC and CEC to place a new gas power plant somewhere in the area. 1) the Electric Vehicle Mandate. 2) voltage support (power factor) needed by the industrial wind and solar farms in the desert. There is more to what meets the eye with the aggressive push by the usual suspects to cover our open spaces in the East County with these poorly sited RE projects. More wind and solar farms means more gas power plants. There is only one way to fight the destruction of our open spaces, and that is with roof top solar, conservation, energy efficiency and community owned energy districts. The fisrt thing that needs to be done is the City of Santee exempt residential scale PV installs from needing a building permit. Australia, Germany and the State of Vermont do not require a Building Permit to install PV.
Retha Knight April 23, 2013 at 03:48 am
Well said Stephen! Knowledge is TRULY power! The fight is not over! Cogentrix is just onceRead More again playing their wait, wait, wait game in the public eye and playing their lobbying game behind closed doors.
just my opinion April 22, 2013 at 01:04 am
Stephen, well said!!!!!