Allstate Canada announces winners of distracted driving awareness contest for teens

Allstate Canada has announced the winners of its JustDrive contest, where students from across the country submitted videos, audio or images offering advice to curb distracted driving.

About 240 entries came from 64 schools across Canada, a nearly 70% increase over the previous year that the company ran the contest.

Nearly 58,000 public votes were cast during the six-week public voting period from Nov.14 to Dec.11, 2013.

According a recent poll from the insurer, 90% of Canadian drivers admit to some kind of distraction, even though they perceive distracted driving negatively.

“It was encouraging to see how committed the students were to entrenching this important safety message,” John O’Donnell, president and CEO for Allstate Canada commented in a statement. “In the longer term, we share the students’ hopes that distracted driving becomes as unacceptable as drinking and driving.”  

The first place winners include:

Video

 “Distracted Driving is a Killer”

Rostyslav Soroka, Austin Affleck, Bryce Grimes, and Matthew Fok from Lillian Osborne High School

Edmonton, Alberta

($1500 prize plus $1000 to the school)

Audio

“One”

Julianne Breen and Kristina Van Damme from Lambton Central Collegiate & VI

Petrolia, Ontario

($1000 prize plus $500 to the school)

Picture

“Distracted Driving: You Have A Lot to Lose”

Collin Mills, Connor Duggan, Holly Crump and Tristan Sargent-Waye from Hill Park Secondary School

Hamilton, Ontario

($500 prize plus $250 to the school)

Official Judges included: MTV personality Phoebe Dykstra; Deputy Chief Lee Foreman, Camrose City Police Service; Constable Daniel Castonguay, Montreal Police Service; Bob Annan and John Hinds, founding partners of Accident Awareness; Anne Marie Hayes, certified driving instructor and President of Teens Learn to Drive Foundation; and Karyn Toon, Director of Corporate Relations, Allstate Insurance Company of Canada.

All contest entries, including the winning entries can be seen on the JustDrive Canada website.