High School Seniors Urged to Drive Responsibly

Over 700 parents and teens attended a session on teen driving safety sponsored by the SHS PTA on the evening of Wednesday, September 12. Though attendance was required in order to get a parking permit in the high school lot, the session was anything but a routine information session. The sobering presentation from the parents of a Rye Brook high schooler who lost his life in a car accident left many in tears.

The event for incoming seniors, which was also made last year, is designed to warn students to drive responsibly and head off accidents. It opened with words from the school’s new Principal, Kenneth Bonamo, who relayed that one in three teen deaths are caused by car accidents. After delivering a few more chilling statistics, he introduced Terry Frank, an outreach worker from Scarsdale Family Counseling who explained how to obtain an on-campus parking permit and bumper stickers that read “DDDD”, which stands for “Ders don’t drive distracted.” The bumper stickers are $8 each, and proceeds from the sale go towards raising awareness on driving safely.

The next speakers were Tina and Rick Blank. They told the story of their 16-year-old son, Michael who died in December, 2000 after a car accident caused by speeding. The heartbroken parents took the audience through the full story of the awful night when Michael was coming home from a friend’s house and lost control of his speeding car that flew into the air and crashed into a telephone pole. When the police first rang the doorbell at the Blank’s home to tell them the news, they assumed that Michael had a few broken bones, but nothing too serious. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Michael actually had no broken bones, no scratches or cuts, and at first sight appeared to be fine, just asleep. Sadly, he had suffered serious brain trauma as a result of a head injury and was brain dead. The doctors told Tina and Rick that he had only a few days to live.

Over 1000 people attended Michael’s funeral and the following year Rye Brook’s basketball team went undefeated en route to a state championship, which they dedicated to Michael. After the Blanks spoke, a recording was played of the police officer that arrived first at the scene and Michael’s best friend. They both added their takes on the story.

Tina and Rick Blank tell their story year after year in the hope of preventing other students and parents from facing a similar fate.

The speakers had a power effect on the audience and many were crying and wiping tears from their faces. The disturbingly powerful message of the assembly was that speeding was not worth it, and the audience received that message loud and clear.

Photo: L to R: Jamie Tanzer-12 grader at SHS who started the "Hang a Tear, Save a Tear" program at SHS, Rick Blank and Tina Blank, who told the gripping story of how their son Michael paid the ultimate price for driving too fast. Photo Credit: Nana Berke

Article contributed by SHS Senior Peter Simon