CollisionMax Donates Online Driver Training Lessons To the School District of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) June 23, 2012

CollisionMax AutoBody and Glass Centers has donated 2,000 online driver training lessons to help the School District of Philadelphia alert teen drivers to the dangers of distracted driving. The donation, announced today, is the first in a $100,000, two-year campaign – called the CollisionMax Driver Safety Project -- to help Delaware Valley teenagers to become safer drivers.

“We’re in the business of repairing vehicles, but we’re parents and drivers, too,” said Jim Tornetta, President of CollisionMax. “This is our way of giving back to the community. We want to save lives and make our highways safer for everybody.”

The donation will enable the Philadelphia school district’s high school students to take a lesson entitled Avoiding Distracted Driving free of charge for the next two years. The 25-minute online lesson has a retail value of $14.95. It features computer game-style graphics and sound effects, driving simulations, interactive exercises and a final exam students must pass to receive credit and a certificate of accomplishment.

Mr. Tornetta said the company is offering to donate lessons to other school districts in its service area in the Delaware Valley.

“Teenaged drivers have the highest accident rates, and with the popularity of cell phones and texting, distracted driving has emerged as one of the leading causes of teenage accidents,” Tornetta said. “The lesson teaches students that anything that takes your attention away from the road for more than two seconds greatly increases your chances of being involved in a collision.”

The lesson advises students that, by engaging in an extended conversation, either on a cell phone or with a passenger, they can be distracted even while they have their eyes on the road. “It’s called cognitive distraction,” Tornetta said. “Your mind isn’t focused on what you’re looking at, but on the conversation, and it’s just as dangerous.”

The lesson offers strategies for avoiding distracted driving, including, for teens, never driving with more than one passenger at a time. “A recent study by AAA shows that teens who drive with one passenger under the age of 21 are 44 percent more likely to die in a traffic accident than teens who drive along, and two to four times as likely if they have two or teen passengers.” (See: http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/2012TeenDriverRiskAgePassengers.pdf )

About CollisionMax
Founded in 1976, CollisionMax operates 11 auto body and glass repair centers in the Delaware Valley. In New Jersey it has centers in Blackwood, Cinnaminson, Glassboro, Marlton, Pennsauken, Sicklerville and Westmont. In Pennsylvania, it has locations in Oxford Valley and Warminster and operates two shops in Northeast Philadelphia.

For more information visit http://www.collisionmax.com

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