Journal & Topics Media Group

Powerful Video Wins SAVE Challenge


Buffalo Grove High School has won the Arlington Heights Police Department’s Speed Awareness Education Challenge.

In an effort to get the attention of local teens, Arlington Heights police created a contest last September for the best video production describing the dangers and consequences of speeding. The goal is to compel young drivers to follow posted speed limits.

All schools in District 214 plus Christian Liberty Academy and St. Viator High School were invited to compete.

Of the eight high schools eligible only four submitted videos: Wheeling High School, The Academy at Forest View, John Hersey High School and Buffalo Grove High School.

The public was invited to vote throughout January. With a over 1,000 votes cast Buffalo Grove High School was the overwhelming winner, garnering almost 50 percent of the votes.

Instructions were to vote for the video that best presented the message on the dangers of speeding in a “creative, clear and impactful manner.”

The winning video shows a female student getting her first driver’s license. She happily skips out of the DMV and drives over to pick up a male friend. The pair is shown chatting and listening to music as they drive along residential streets oblivious to posted speed limits. Another girl, around the same age, is riding her bike. As she rides across the street the car strikes her.

The girl on the bicycle is lying on the road, her heart beats loudly and her dying thoughts are heard while the screen flashes the words “27% – of all – fatal crashes – involve speeding” in between heart beats. A police officer arrives and takes her pulse as a flatline tone is heard. The girl with the newly minted license is sobbing as is put into the police cruiser, her boyfriend sits alone on the curb clearly stunned by the turn of events.

An award presentation was made at Buffalo Grove High School by the police department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit on Tuesday, Feb. 12.

To view the winning video go to www.vah.com/village_services/public_safety_services/crime_prevention__safety___education/s_a_v_e_challenge

 

 

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