WOODLAND HILLS, CA (December 2, 2013) – High speed car chases and street car racing add a dose of excitement to movies. In real life, driving at unsafe speeds can have deadly consequences.

This lesson was reinforced through the tragic death of Paul Walker, a notable star of “The Fast and the Furious” and several of its sequels. Walker made his name as an actor in a role which required him to do dangerous things behind the wheel. Unfortunately, art did not imitate life for Walker.

Walker died tragically   in a single car accident. He was the passenger in a red Porsche Carrera GT driven by close friend and accomplished racing buddy, Roger Rodas, at about 3:30 p.m when the car flew off the road and crashed into a light pole.    In addition to playing a role as an avid street racing enthusiast in “The Fast and the Furious” films, Walker was also a professional race car driver, participating with friend Roger Rodas in various Pirelli World Challenge Series races as driving team partners.

Improv Traffic School™ expresses deep sorrow to the friends and families of both men and believes that valuable lessons could be learned from this unnecessary tragedy about the dangers of driving at excessive speeds on city streets, even for professional car drivers.  Improv Traffic School™ aims to share that lesson nationwide through introducing the National Drive Safer Challenge.  Each year, approximately 33,500 people are killed and over 2.36 million people are injured in vehicle-related crashes nationwide, and speeding is one of the leading causes of these crashes.

Participants in the Remember Paul Walker National Drive Safer Challenge are asked to send an email or a text message to their friends and family with a pledge to not speed or street race. They are encouraged to reach out to those same friends and family members and get them to join the challenge and take the same pledge.

During this month of December, you can copy this pledge and send it to family and friends, while enlisting them to join in the challenge:

REMEMBER PAUL WALKER DRIVE SAFER PLEDGE

I ____________ remember Paul Walker.  I pledge to drive safer and hope you do too.  Stay alive– think before you drive.