3D PSA Program
In the year 2000 Middlesex County Freeholder H. James Polos crated a
program called the "Middlesex County Don't Drink and Drive PSA
Video Contest," with the goal of reducing alcohol related fatalities
among teens, specifically targeting prom and graduation time. It has expanded to include all distracted and impaired driving.
The contest is
open to teens in all public and non-public Middlesex County High Schools.
Each high school is invited to submit an English and or Spanish 30 second
student-produced public service announcement (PSA video) that focuses
on the consequences of driving while drinking, drugs, texting, and cell phone usage. A maximum of
five students per youth-led team can collaborate to change the social
climate of their community through the use of compelling PSAs that depict
drinking and driving as unacceptable behavior.
In 2001, the Middlesex
County Superintendent of Schools joined the Middlesex County Board of
Chosen Freeholders and became co-sponsors of this program. Over the
next five years, the program and student participation continued to
expand.
In 2005, the Injury
Prevention Program of the Level One Trauma Center at Robert Wood Johnson
University Hospital and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug
Dependency (NCADD) of Middlesex County came on board as co-sponsors
to make this program even more successful.
Through this program, teens become positive role models, empowering
their peers to make healthy decisions and resist negative peer pressure.
