Media Alert:
Battle of the Belts
Attorneys Scott Murray & Jason Guari sponsor A fun “buckle-up” competition with a life-saving message to teens May 6, 2015 at Royal Palm High School
Royal Palm Beach, FL- Youth Safety Day is Wednesday, May 6, 2015 and students at Royal Palm High School (10600 Okeechobee Blvd., Royal Palm Beach) will learn throughout the day about the perils of unsafe driving. Coordinated by Maureen Witkowski- SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) Sponsor and Health Teacher, she has a host of activities including the much-anticipated Battle of the Belts, sponsored by attorneys Scott Murray and Jason Guari.
Battle of the Belts is an exciting and fun “buckle-up” competition for high school students designed to change behaviors and attitudes about seat belt use. Students see who can buckle-up the fastest. To start, the team of four runs from a starting line, to a four-door car. The starting line is 15 feet from the back of the car’s rear bumper. Team members get in, buckle up, and throw their hands in the air until a Referee (Murray Guari) shouts “ROTATE!” Then they unbuckle, get out, rotate clockwise around the car to the next seat and buckle-up again. They rotate twice more until they have been buckled in all four seats. The team with the fastest time after four “buckle-ups” is the winner! Battle of the Belts will take place at 8:48am-10:33am / 10:38am-12:58pm / 1:03pm-2:48pm.
Scott Murray and Jason Guari are not only sponsoring this Battle of the Belts competition, they are serving as referees. As fathers, they are passionate about educating and protecting their community. Murray & Guari see first-hand in their practice the results and consequences of poor decisions regarding seatbelts. “We need to stress to these students that wearing a seat belt in any seat of the car can save a life,” said attorney Scott C. Murray.
According to the Centers for Disease Control-auto accidents are the number one killer of teenagers. Two-thirds of teens who perish in car wrecks were not wearing safety belts. More teens die in motor vehicle crashes than from any other cause of death, about 2,500 per year. And, fatalities are divided almost equally between teen drivers (56 percent) and passengers (44 percent). In half of the fatal crashes, the teen was not wearing a seat belt as noted by Safe Kids Worldwide.
So what reasons do teens give for not buckling up? According to www.teendriversource.org the four LAMEST reasons include: “1. It’s un-cool to use seat belts; 2. Seat belts are uncomfortable; 3. Don’t need seat belts when only traveling short distance; and 4. Nothing’s going to happen to me.
Scott Murray and Jason Guari will also share with students some legal tips, such as the fact that many cars today have black boxes in them that record information about whether you were wearing your seat belt in an accident. As lawyers they can also subpoena records from your cell phone company to know whether you were on the phone, texting, surfing the web or checking social media at the time of a crash.
“We are very hopeful that by engaging students with this hands-on activity and giving them some important facts and advice- they will not only wear their seat belt every time they are in a vehicle, but they will stay off their phones while driving,” said attorney Jason J. Guari.
About SADD: Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) – Originally, the mission of the SADD chapter was to help young people say “No” to drinking and driving. Today, the mission has expanded. Students have told us that positive peer pressure, role modeling and environmental strategies can prevent other destructive decisions and set a healthier, safer course for their lives. And that is why SADD has become a peer-to-peer education, prevention, and activism organization dedicated to preventing destructive decisions, particularly underage drinking, other drug use, risky and impaired driving, teen violence, and teen suicide. To learn more about SADD visit www.sadd.org.
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About the law firm of Murray Guari: The law firm of Murray Guari Trial Attorneys PL was founded in 2005. The firm is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, at 1525 N. Flagler Drive, Suite 100. The attorneys can be contacted at (561) 366-9099. Additional information about Scott C. Murray, Jason J. Guari or Murray Guari Trial Attorneys PL may be obtained from the firm’s website at www.murrayguari.com.
Media Contact:
Kim Sailer, BARD Marketing/PR
ksailer@bardmarketing.com
