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Community Corner

Plum Teen Recognized for Safe Driving

Brandon Dargay, recent Plum Borough High School graduate, member of SADD and third place winner of the Allegheny County Health Department's Teen Safety Driving competition, credits his parents with what he knows about safe driving.

While driving a friend home, a deer ran out in front of Brandon Dargay's car while he was texting and driving, causing him to wreck.

Fortunately, Dargay wasn’t really driving, or texting.

He was participating in a simulation that was part of the Allegheny County Health Department’s Teen Safety Driving Challenge.

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Before he graduated from Plum in June, he and another Plum senior, Brittany Beasley, took part in the Teen Safety Challenge in Oakdale. The event was held in May. 

The driving simulation, which Dargay compared to a video game, instructed participants to text or make a phone call at various times during the simulated drive.

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The purpose was to show the dangers of distracted driving, something that Dargay, who has been an active member of Plum Borough High School's Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), said he's well aware of.

“I see people texting and driving all the time," he said. "I hear about fatal accidents and they're phone-related."

Dargay is actually a safe driver. So safe, in fact, that he came in third place at the Teen Safety Driving Challenge, winning a $250 scholarship.

"My dad was really happy," he said. "He's the one who taught me everything and drove with me."

The contest was based on scores taken from three separate tests—a written test, a perception test and a driving test.

The challenge was part of a symposium focused on teen safety, according to Plum Borough High School teacher and SADD sponsor Colleen Prokopik.

Dargay’s place in the contest not only garnered him the scholarship money—which he’ll put toward his education at the University of Pittsburgh’s Johnstown campus—but placed him as an alternate for an annual Pennsylvania Safe Driving Competition, held by the Pennsylvania Motor Trucking Association.

The competition was held in May in Camp Hill.

Prokopik said that Dargay, who graduated this June, was vital in putting together SADD’s awareness and education efforts at the high school this year.

“He was a remarkable student and a leader,” Prokopik said. “Throughout the year, he was really helpful and instrumental in putting together programs.”

One of those programs highlighted the dangers of drinking underage with a focus on prom night.

It was a mock trial based on a script from Plum District Justice Linda Zucco. Zucco presided over the proceedings.

“It went pretty well,” Dargay said. “It was live in front of the junior and senior class.”

The mock trial was held on the day of prom and everyone attending prom had to go to the presentation.

Dargay helped to round up actors—many from Plum's theater and musical groups, Plum faculty members and the school's resource officer Mark Kost.

Though he said he won't be a part of a SADD when he goes off to college this fall to study mathematics, Dargay said odds are he’ll stay safe on and off the road.

"I guess my parents taught me well when I got my permit," he said.

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