The Resource Training Center is issuing a special challenge this week to the parents of all teen drivers with a special “5 to Drive” campaign encouraging parents to always set the rules before their teens hit the road.

Motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of teens in America. In 2011, 2,105 teen drivers were involved in fatal crashes – with almost half (45 percent) of those teen drivers being killed in those crashes.

As a graduating senior at Tonawanda High School, John Gorman had an idea about what he wanted to pursue for his career, he just wasn’t entirely sure how to put his plan into action. He had just completed the auto tech program offered through Erie 1 BOCES, and he was quite good at it.

So good, in fact, that John and a classmate took part in the annual Niagara Frontier Auto Dealers Association/Ron Smith Memorial AutoTech Competition and finished in second place. That achievement led to the National Automotive Technology Competition in New York City, where the duo would finish in a very respectable seventh place against the strongest teams from across the country. 

Football season is here, and Western New York’s rabid football fans couldn’t be happier.   And while game day is always highly anticipated, it is also a day frequently associated with heavy drinking, reckless behavior, drinking and driving, and an increase in vehicular crashes.

“Western New Yorkers love football and love to cheer for Buffalo with their friends and family — oftentimes while drinking,” said Monica Farrar, director of The Resource Training Center in Amherst. “The best way to celebrate a great game is to plan ahead and, if you plan to drink, plan on having a sober ride home.”