Sarah’s Story

The Monroe County Intermediate School District (Michigan) in collaboration with the 1st District Court of Monroe, MI produced Sarah’s Story, a public service video describing the experience of a struck by incident from the perspective of a teen driver who hit an emergency responder. Participation in the video was part of the teen driver’s sentence for charges arising from the incident. The Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman’s Association and the Emergency Responder Safety Institute supported the distribution of this piece, which was previously available only on DVD. We have now made it available on the Internet.

Sarah’s Story was produced in 2005 and its content reflects Michigan traffic laws at that time. However, ERSI believes that the approach of Sarah’s Story can be successfully applied to current issues like distracted driving and move over slow down to create an effective public education tool. A story told by a teen driver about the consequences of their actions should resonate with other teens. PIOs and public educators are encouraged to explore this type of programming in their local communities to present safe driving messaging in a way that hits home.