CHAMPION TWP., Ohio (WKBN) – April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and Thursday, some local students gave each other a life-saving lesson on possible dangers.

The students are part of the multi-media program at the Trumbull County Career and Technical Center (TCTC).

Car crashes are a leading cause of death for young people in America. Most involve reckless and distracted driving.

The students are creating a social media campaign to address the problem.

Because the message comes from someone their age, they hope to change the driving culture.

“When it’s coming from friends — the people you trust and respect — you tend to listen more, and it tends to come from a more real spot. Because if you respect your friends, you should be able to respect when they’re telling you to not drive distracted because you are putting everybody in the vehicle’s lives at risk and everybody else on the road,” said Lily Ramos, a student who is on the board of the campaign.

Kris Doran is a multimedia instructor at TCTC who helped plan the event. He said he hopes the day teaches students to think twice before driving distracted.

“Especially with their spring break coming up, and a lot of kids on spring break, then that’s a good thing. And a lot of them, it’s funny, when we did this last year, a lot of them told me, ‘I went home and told my mom, you know, you’re driving distracted all the time.’ Like I said, we all share the road,” said Doran.

Thursday’s lesson plan was timely. Ohio’s new distracted driving law went into effect on Tuesday.