Sept. 28--SMITHFIELD -- Kyle Petty drove fast for a living, in a sport that takes distracted driving to a whole different level.
But the former NASCAR star brought a different message to Johnston County teens on Tuesday: Ditch the cellphone, wear your seat belt, don't even think of drinking and driving and -- oh yeah -- slow down.
"Speed has a place," said Petty, a North Carolina native and son of NASCAR legend Richard Petty. "But it's not on the highway."
Petty spoke to dozens of high school students as part of a kickoff for JoCo Teen Drivers. The program is a school-based initiative centered on the idea that youngsters will be safer if they encourage each other to adopt good habits behind the wheel.
Local officials and a committee that studied safe driving launched a similar program last school year in Johnston County, which has one of the worst records in the state for teen vehicle fatalities. Since 2005, more than 34 Johnston teens have died in crashes.
As part of the program, students urge their peers to sign petitions that promise seat-belt use. They hand out pencils that carry a reminder to slow down and buckle up. And they give thumb rings complete with text-message lingo: "DRV NOW TXT L8R."
And JoCo Teen Drivers hopes to pinpoint risky driving behaviors among students of the county's 10 high schools, said Lynda Carroll, vice chairwoman of the Johnston County Teen Driving Committee.
Upperclassmen can take an online survey that asks them about their driving habits, including whether they wear a seatbelt, how loud they play music in the car and how they use cellphones.
The data could help schools focus on five different factors: night driving, speeding, distracted driving, seat belts and alcohol and drugs.
"We particularly have problems in this county with speeding and lack of seat belts," Carroll said.
Petty said nothing is scarier as a parent than sending a teenager off in a car. His son, Adam, also a professional driver, died in a crash during practice 11 years ago.
But in NASCAR, safety measures are extensive: a helmet, a fireproof outfit and a seven-point harness. Safety should also be at the forefront every time people get into their cars, even if they aren't traveling 100 mph, Petty said.
As for distractions, he said, there are plenty. Kids are fiddling with their cellphones and adjusting the radio.
"Focus on what you're doing," he said. "Don't do anything else. ... There's nothing worse than a distracted driver."
Some students said they take the safe-driving message to heart -- and many have known the pain of losing a classmate to traffic accidents.
Nichelle Wells, 16, a junior at Cleveland High School, experienced that loss last year, when her friend Ariel Hughes died in a crash and became the third West Johnston High School student to die in a wreck in a two-month span.
The message she learned, Wells said, is that "you basically are responsible for your life."
At South Johnston High School, 16-year-old Jesse Ferrell also died in a crash last year.
"It really brought it home," said Claire Johnson, 17, a senior at the school. "Everyone says you can get hurt, you can get killed. When it happened at our school, it showed it can happen to anybody."
snagem@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4758
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