WARRENTON, Mo. — First Impact is a traffic safety program that educates parents about monitoring, coaching and supporting their new teen driver as well as setting the right example.
“You cannot say to your teen ‘Don’t text and drive,’ and turn around and do it because they’re going to do what you do,” said First Impact director Deana Dothage of Columbia, Missouri.
First Impact is a 60- to 90-minute traffic safety program that educates parents about Missouri’s Graduated Driver License (GDL) law, the three-step licensing program that eases teens into driving so they can build their driving skills while minimizing the risks new drivers face. In the last year, First Impact has held 90 programs all over Missouri. This week, there will be presentations at SSM St. Clare Hospital, Liberty High School in Lake St. Louis, and Troy Buchanon High School.
For Dothage, the effort to decrease teen driving accidents is personal. Her teenage son is now driving.
“Every single day when I’m working I am thinking about my son being out of the road,” said Dothage, who lost her father and brother a year apart in separate vehicle accidents.
“So yeah, I’m very passionate about it because I’ve lived it,” said Dothage. “I still live it every day.”
So does Andrea Romaker of Warrenton, Missouri, when she talks about her son Tyler. He was an Eagle Scout, high school athlete, member of Marching Mizzou, and ROTC at the University of Missouri Columbia.
“You either liked him or you loved him. And that was so true because Tyler, he just had a knack of making other people feel good about themselves,” said Romaker.
Two years ago when a 19-year-old Mizzou sophomore failed to yield, Tyler Romaker was struck and killed on his new motorcycle in Columbia. Tyler’s parents accidentally learned about his motorcycle two days before he was killed.
“He wanted a motorcycle and we told him there was no way. We always told him ‘no, no, no, no, no,’" said Romaker.
Now that Andrea Romaker is able to talk about what happened to her son, she’s preparing to take on a larger role with First Impact, sharing her story with other parents.
“In a blink of an eye, your life can change. And sadly, it could be your own children's fault, or it could be the fault of another young driver,” said Romaker.
