Every 50 minutes, a person dies because of driving under the influence of alcohol. According to 2016 Road Safety Facts data provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 29 people die every day and 10,000 people die every year in automotive crashes caused by drunk drivers.

Mrs. Jameson, a geography teacher at Greenwood, is also the head of the club Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). SADD was originally founded in 1981 by Robert Anastas.  Anastas was a former teacher in Wyland, Massachusetts, who started the club because of the deaths of two students who were under the influence. He started the anti-drunk-driving program for high schoolers but ended up spreading awareness all over the world from New Zealand to Europe. SADD also spread all over North America. Not only the club itself, but it’s ideas, its passion, and it’s love. 

In an interview with Jameson, she states, “If we start looking out for our society, bad things won’t happen as much, and so that’s what I’m promoting to the kids.”  This issue hits her personally. In 2014, her son was killed by a drunk driver. In 2015, She introduced SADD to Greenwood.

She mainly focuses on making students feel connected and less likely to fall through the cracks that could or would  lead to incarceration. They focus on physical and emotional state, depression and anxiety, suicide or self harm, alcohol, drugs , and tobacco.

“Nobody wakes up and says, ‘Hey! I’m gonna become a drunk driver’ and ‘Hey! I think I’m going to go and kill someone and devastate their family and friends. It’s a gradual process,’ ” said Jameson.

In every state, it’s illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher, yet one person was killed in a drunk-driving crash every 50 minutes in the United States in 2018. We can’t stop drunk drivers , but we can prevent our future leaders from doing things they will regret.