MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee non-profit wants teens to know about the dangers of driving recklessly before they get their licenses. It is why the Greater Milwaukee Urban League started a new reckless driving awareness class.
Lamont Anderson, 17, is one of the first students to take the class. He says his goal when he gets his license is to avoid a crash.
"I just want to get in the car and go where I am going. Or get in the car and stay there,” said Anderson.
“You want to be safe?” asked reporter Rebecca Klopf.
“Yes,” he answered.
Anderson was joined by more than a dozen Milwaukee teenagers who like him, are still waiting to get their driver’s license. They came for the one-day class called Road Ready: Reckless Driving Awareness. The class included some clips from TMJ4 News' Project Drive Safer.
"Today, they will learn about why is it important to drive safe. Why is it important to drive according to the rules,” said Sharon Jude who is teaching the class. “I’m making them aware of reckless driving. Showing them a few clips about what's happening in the City of Milwaukee, on our streets."
Jude says she volunteered to be the class instructor because she wanted to share her own first-hand experience. In 2018, she says she was hit by two drivers who were racing down 60th Street.
"I was turning on the intersection on Capitol, making a left turn and they were racing. I couldn't go fast enough, I couldn't stop. Either way, they were going to hit me,” says Jude.
She had a serious head injury that took her years to recover from.
"I had a concussion for eight months where I had to go to physical therapy and had to relearn simple words of how to spell,” said Jude.
In Thursday’s class students were asked to sign a pledge not to drive recklessly. Jude hopes they take it seriously so someone else does not have to live through what she experienced.
"I don't want to turn into that. I don't want to be a crazy, out-of-control driver,” said Anderson.
All the students in the class are between the ages of 15 to 17 and plan to go through the Greater Milwaukee Urban League's permit class and eventually get their driver's licenses.
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