As a child, junior Toby Klein’s babysitter was unavailable one night because she went to volunteer with a program called Safe Rides through New Trier High School. Years later, she is working to establish a branch of the program in Northbrook.
“Safe Rides is a program that makes sure that students get home safely on Friday and Saturday nights, [regardless of what they have been doing]…without fear of repercussions from the school or the police,” said Klein. “Not everyone who receives a safe ride…[has] any sort of alcohol or illicit drugs in [his or her] system. It just ensures that if [students] are breaking curfew, they can get home safely.”
According to Klein, she based a lot of the structure and rules of the Northbrook branch of the program on those of New Trier’s branch. The program involves parent and teenage volunteers who work as phone operators, board members, home based captains, drivers and driving navigators.
Program coordinators hope to have 100 to 125 volunteers when it is scheduled to be fully operational on Feb. 28, Klein said.
Senior Amy Lakowski plans to volunteer as a Safe Rides driver in her spare time because she believes Safe Rides is a good program that will “help keep [her] fellow high school students safe.”
Even though there are many students and parents who support Safe Rides in the North Shore, Safe Rides encountered some trouble when the state issued a mandatory curfew for all drivers under the age of 17.
“In 2006, the state legislature passed the Graduated Drivers License [GDL] law and there were a number of provisions, but one of them was a mandatory curfew at 11 o’clock for everybody 17 and under, so that took away my [Safe Rides drivers],” said Brooks. “I didn’t know what to do, so I went down to the [state] legislature and I fou nd some wonderful state senators and…[they] helped me pass a single purpose bill that basically exempted a group like Safe Rides from some of the provisions of GDL.”
As a result, Safe Rides branches in Illinois are able to continue their services without interference from their community police force, which ultimately means that the Northbrook program’s drivers will also be protected from the GDL law, Brooks said.
According to Daniel Petka, Supervisor of Community Relations for the Northbrook Police, the Northbrook Police do not sponsor the Safe Rides branch.
“We did contact the police and they are not thrilled with the idea…but I think it is going to take a little bit of time for us to earn their trust and for them to realize what a really great program it is,” Klein said.
Similarly, Safe Rides is not affiliated with District 225.
“District 225 does not sponsor Safe Rides,” said Dean of Students William Eike. “Our main focus is that if an individual is under the influence, we feel that the parents need to be involved, that the parents should be the ones that pick the student up and that it should not be the responsibility of other students…to get them home safely.”
Despite setbacks, Brooks said he is optimistic about potential benefits Safe Rides can bring to the Northbrook community.
“[Safe Rides] only has to save one life in order to prove its worth,” Brooks said.