A young and upcoming professional race car driver spoke to 1,600 students at Lindsay Thurbur High School about the dangers of distracted driving.
 
As part of the Drive to Stay Alive campaign, 18-year-old Parker Thompson was in Red Deer this morning hoping to make an impact and get teenagers to put down their phones while they drive.
 
Thompson says he started the campaign last year after some of his friends were involved in collisions and says if he could save one life out of all the schools he speaks at, it would be worth it.
 
“I knew distracted driving was dangerous, but when you start looking at the facts, I mean four million distracted driving based accidents in North America every year. 1.6 million texting and driving accidents every year and 11 teens die every day in Canada and the US because of texting and driving. When you start uncovering these facts it starts to hit home that distracted driving is getting that bad.”

After moving to Italy at the age of 14 to start his racing career, Thompson has since spoken at hundreds of schools and has become one of the top young racers in the world. He also told students he feels safer behind the wheel of a race car going 260 km/h then he does on the roads in Red Deer.

"First and foremost, there is a lot of respect between competitors. We don't make silly decisions, if you want to win the race, first you must finish. Secondly, as complicated as racing seems on TV, there aren't many variables, we all know the track we race at very well, that's what we get paid to do. Third, the safety and development in our race cars is bar-none better than anything you're going to find in the street."

The goal of the campaign for the 2016-2017 school year is to reach 100 schools across Canada and the USA and impact over 100,000 students and staff along the way.