Last month I was invited by the National Organizations for Youth Safety (www.noys.org) to participate in a four minute public service video on teen driving. The main purpose of the video is to promote NOYS’s safe teen driving website for parents, UnderYourInfluence, found at www.underyourinfluence.org. NOYS has kindly promoted this blog on this website twice in the past several months. The video will be launched on national TV this Thursday, May 26th. The first two broadcasts will be:
- the WE Network (in greater Hartford on Comcast, Channel 117) on Thursday May 26 at 7AM; and
- the Food Network, on Monday June 6th at 7:30 AM
I will post the schedule for other broadcasts as I learn of them. After the May 26 broadcast, the video will also be available at www.betterlivingtelevision.com, under “Everyday Parenting.”
The other parent in the video is Laura Marchetti of Tampa, Florida. The parallels in our lives are eerie. Her daughter Katie was eleven days younger than Reid and, like Reid, died in a one car crash on an interstate highway on a Friday night in December. The Marchettis have a son who is the same age as my daughter Martha. Laura’s husband Vince, like me, is a land use lawyer. Finally, both Laura and Vince have roots in New England. The Marchetti family has done incredible work on seat belt legislation in Florida and has set up the Katie Marchetti Foundation, www.katiesstory.com, which promotes and supports a variety of traffic safety initiatives. For me, meeting Laura and Vince in Florida at the taping session was nothing less than life-affirming; they are dedicated, articulate, compassionate people who have turned tragedy into public service in ways that are simply inspiring.
Hope you like the video.
