Former Provost Howard London said he still has a place in his heart for BSU students. Which is why for the fifth consecutive year he’s stood before an audience of undergraduates to recount the painful events of Aug. 23, 2010. That’s the day his 17-year-old son, Adam, was killed in a car accident.
“He was smart, he was kind, he was caring… and he would have grown up to be someone very special,” Dr. London said. “In other words, he was just like you.”
Finding parallels between his son’s life and those of the students who attend a Promise to Adam event like the one held Monday night in the RCC ballroom, is a point Dr. London made time and again. The takeaway, he hopes, is that distracted driving kills.
After a slideshow of images that depicted Adam and his family and friends through the years, Dr. London told the 100 young people gathered for the event about the toll the loss of his son has taken.
“The effects are widespread and they are devastating,” he said.
Adam was driving home from a friend’s house the night he died. His car collided with a tree less than a mile from home. He’d had a little alcohol, was going too fast and was not wearing his seatbelt. Whether he was texting at the time of the accident is unknown. Dr. London addressed all these issues, and each is incorporated into the promise.
Between 3,500 and 4,000 teens die each year in motor vehicle accidents; hundreds of thousands more are injured. Dr. London shared other statistics about driving while impaired, the failure to wear seatbelts and speeding. He urged those in attendance to take the Promise to Adam, adding: “It’s really a promise to yourself and the ones you love.”
Ann Doyle, an outreach coordinator at the BSU Wellness Center, introduced Dr. London, and said that over the past five years more 800 BSU students have signed the Promise to Adam.
Scott Spillert, a first-year exercise science major, signed on before the event began. “Distracted driving isn’t good,” he said.
Sydney Snow, a sophomore and communication studies major, attended the event with a group of friends, who each signed the promise.
“We all thought it was a good idea,” she said. “It really does open your eyes to how important this is.”
More information is available at the Promise to Adam website and the federal government’s site, distraction.gov. The event was sponsored by BSU Outreach Education and the BSU Peer Educators. (Story and photos by John Winters, G ’11, University News & Media)
