St. Petersburg, Fla. - Parker Thompson, a rising star on the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, sanctioned by INDYCAR, appeared at Gibbs High School this morning in St. Petersburg. This is just the start of the American tour of Drive to Stay Alive, a now international distracted driving campaign.
The already well-established Drive To Stay Alive campaign has had overwhelming success in Canada, and is now set to continue that success in the United States. The outline of the USA Tour in 2016 is to host multiple distracted driving events at local high schools in each of the seven cities that Parker Thompson races in with the Mazda Road to Indy. With this added program, by the end of 2016 Thompson will have spoken to over 70,000 students in North America about the dangers of distracted driving.
“Today’s drivers are faced with challenges that previous generations have never had to face before,” said Thompson. “As technology such as cell phones continue to creep into every part of our daily lives, it is crucial that we practice safe behaviors while we are out driving on the road. I’m honored to have the opportunity to visit with the students of Gibbs High School and I hope we can spread the word on the dangers of distracted driving and help forge good behaviors in young drivers.”
The Drive to Stay Alive USA Tour is proudly brought to you by our Canadian supporter Global Traffic Group, who is committed to providing road safety education across North America with Parker Thompson. New supporter to the campaign is Uber, who will also be a partner on the #2 USF2000 that Parker will pilot in the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.
Thompson is in St. Petersburg from 3/8/16 to 3/14/16 racing in the USF2000 category of the Mazda Road to Indy series.
About Drive to Stay Alive
Parker Thompson, a 18-year old race car driver from Red Deer, Alberta has entered his second year with his distracted driving campaign in partner with Global Traffic Group. The purpose of Drive to Stay Alive is to educate high school students about the dangers of distracted driving.
Parker Thompson is on a mission to travel across North America to provide his peers with the best practices on staying focused when they get behind the wheel. The goal of the Drive To Stay Alive campaign is to start minimizing the amount of distracted driving currently taking place on North American roads. The main focus point of the campaign is targeting Canadian communities, but as of this year we will have an International presence with our USA Tour aligned with the Mazda Road to Indy. Our projected goal for this school year is at least one school in every province across Canada, and 2 schools in every city Parker races in. At the end of 2016, Parker will have spoken to over 70,000 students across North America on the dangers of distracted driving.
A recently announced partnership with Uber will also benefit the communities that Parker visits. Anytime a new user downloads the Uber app and takes their first ride using promo code ‘DRIVETOSTAYALIVE’, users will receive that first ride free (up to $15.00). Parker's car will feature an Uber decal this race weekend helping to remind local driver partners and riders of the dangers of distracted driving.
About Parker Thompson
Parker Thompson is an accomplished 18-year old driver currently racing in his second year in USF2000. Thompson ended the 2015 season with 8 top fives to his name, and 5th Overall in the USF2000 Championship standings out of nearly 30 drivers from all around the world. For the 2016 season, Thompson has signed a deal with Championship winning Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. Cape Motorsport’s has won the USF2000 Championship 5 years in a row, and will be looking to do the same with Thompson.
For more information about Drive to Stay Alive, and how you can get involved with ending distracted driving in your community visit:
Twitter: @drivetostaylive
Instagram: @drivetostayalive
Facebook: Drive to Stay Alive
Website: www.parkerthompsonracing/drivetostayalive.com