A Birmingham high-school student who volunteers in the UAB TRIP lab was a runner-up in a national contest to produce a public service announcement on the dangers of distracted driving. Erica Britton volunteers in the Translational Research for Injury Prevention laboratory under the direction of Despina Stavrinos, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology.
Britton, a junior at Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School, wrote and produced the radio PSA as part of a competition sponsored by the National Road Safety Foundation and the National Student Safety Program. The contest was searching for the best ideas conceived by young people to educate young people about the dangers of distracted driving.
Britton’s radio spot featured two actors in a car. One volunteers to text on behalf of a friend who is driving. The driver insists she can handle it. The spot ends with the sound of a car crash and a narrator’s voice stressing the dangers of texting while driving.
Britton won $500 for being selected as a runner-up in the contest. She intends to enroll at UAB in psychology upon graduation from high school.