By Matt Browning

The Kansas Turnpike Authority created a new contest that continues to raise awareness and promote safe driving habits such as wearing a seatbelt and not texting while driving using witty or attention-grabbing safety messages.

Students were to submit a creative safety message about driving habits or integrate writing safety messages into lesson plans. These messages were short and made it a great writing prompt or creative writing exercise that could be easily incorporated into an already-established lesson plan or daily schedule.

McPherson’s Seth Madron finished third in the youth division of the contest with a message titled “Alcohol will make you stall.”

“My mother got my whole family into the contest and we were all trying to think of catchy lines and that was the one I ended up going with,” Madron said.

KTA’s Communication Specialist Katie Cantrell said Madron’s message stood out for a couple of reasons.

“From our youth entries, Seth’s safety message stood out to our judges for a couple of different reasons,” Cantrell said. “First, the message was clear and concise for drivers to read safely on the road. Second, it used play on words, particularly with a travel angle, which fits the Turnpike audience well.”