Jill Schramm/MDN Vision Zero leaders Ava Feist, Drew Roedocker, Kaylee Werner, Grace Bock, Zander Grover and Carter Hoff at Des Lacs-Burlington High School hold a banner, unveiled Wednesday, that will hang in the school to remind students to drive safely.

DES LACS — Des Lacs-Burlington School became a Vision Zero School Wednesday with the launch of a peer-driven campaign to educate and encourage students to become safer drivers.

Six student representatives selected to lead the effort were recognized at the program’s kickoff. High school and junior high students, educators and law enforcement personnel were among those gathered for the reveal of a social media ad campaign and banner featuring the student leaders.

Selected for the peer leadership roles over the next year and half are juniors Ava Feist, Zander Grover and Carter Hoff and sophomores Grace Bock, Drew Roedocker and Kaylee Werner. They have been working with Kyle Patterson, Vision Zero outreach coordinator, based in Minot, for the past six weeks.

“They’ve talked at length at meetings about driver safety and meetings about what we need to do as a school,” Superintendent Christopher Bachmeier said. “This isn’t something they volunteered for. This is something they were chosen for.”

Grover said simply being identified as a leader inspires him to want to make a difference with the campaign and have an impact on younger students. The campaign will touch all various aspects of driving safety, with an emphasis on the dangers of speeding.

“Speed-related crashes happen more than you might think,” Grover told students at Wednesday’s assembly. “The effort you take to keep the roads safer is the change we need to save more lives.”

The campaign will include activities ranging from safety reminders offered during the school’s morning announcements to guest speakers, Patterson said. Some activities will tie in with existing events, such as school spirit week and prom, and a Vision Zero Day will be planned.

The campaign will work closely with law enforcement.

“The partnership between DLB and Vision Zero and the Ward County Sheriff’s Department is a really great opportunity because we’re able to educate the student leaders and then they’re able to go out and be mentors to their peers,” said Sgt. Sam Mahoney with the sheriff’s department. “So that’s pretty cool for us. I’m very excited to be a part of this project and work with these new drivers and the entire community.”

Patterson said the goal is to launch school campaigns in each of the four Vision Zero regions of the state in the coming year. Des Lacs-Burlington joins Kidder County and Flasher Public Schools as a Vision Zero School. Oakes also was named a Vision Zero School Wednesday.

As a Vision Zero school, Des Lacs-Burlington is aiming for zero as the only acceptable number of highway fatalities, Patterson said. In 2021 in North Dakota, 11 teenagers died in fatal crashes, and a crash involving a teen driver occurred every four hours, he said. Over the past five years, 37 teens have died on the state’s roads, according to state statistics.