As you know the MBCA Educational Foundation is working with the Tire Rack Street Survival.  Tire Rack Street Survival has been nominated for consideration for the American Express Members Project!

Whether a cardmember or not, everyone is invited to participate by commenting on and nominating their favorite projects online.  You can help Street Survival secure much needed funding by spending just one painless minute at the Members Project website.

If we get enough support we could qualify for funding – the top project will receive $1.5 million, the second place project will receive $500,000, the third place project will receive $300,000 and two additional projects in the Top Five will receive $100,000 in funding.

Once the submission phase closes on August 19, American Express will work with an Advisory Panel of experts to review the projects and announce the Top 25 submissions on September 9. It’s up to Cardmembers to ultimately choose which projects American Express will fund. Cardmembers can make a collective difference by casting their vote, showing their support for their favorite projects, and narrowing down to the Top Five projects starting September 30.

The winning projects will be those with the most Cardmember votes, announced October 14.    

This is the first round –please take action now and nominate Street Survival. You do not need to be an AmEx cardmember to nominate the project, but you will need to be one to vote should Street Survival make it to the top 25:

http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/GN1G22

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group.

Ask any parent who has just added a kid to the family’s insurance policy and they’ll tell you how expensive it is to have a teen behind the wheel. But the overall cost of teen driving is as tragic as it is staggering. According to a recent report from AAA, car accidents involving drivers 15 to 17 cost society more than $34 billion in medical expenses, property damage and related costs in 2006.

This massive figure includes $9.8 billion related to fatal crashes, and double that amount ($20.5 billion), connected with non-fatal crashes, while property damage losses made up the remaining $4.1 billion. But there are, of course, more heartbreaking and incalculable losses behind these numbers….

According to an analysis conducted for AAA, in 2006 drivers ages 15 to 17 were involved in approximately 974,000 crashes that injured 406,427 people and killed 2,541.

The rest of the MSN article can be found here, The Staggering Cost of Teen Driving.

Now that you are aware of the problem, are you ready to do something about it? The MBCA Educational Foundation is involved with the Tire Rack Street Survival program; a successful program designed to save lives – teen lives – through driving education. Get involved – save a life. Contact us here and we’ll help you get involved.

If you would prefer to make a financial contribution, that’s available also. Please use the donation button in the right sidebar, which will process your financial contribution to MBCA Educational Foundation (any amount, takes less than 5-minutes). However you may get involved, your contribution is appreciated.

I am Vice President of the MBCA Educational Foundation and have recently been named chair for the Teen Driving Program for the Educational Foundation. Teenage traffic fatalities are at an all time high in our neighborhoods and across our country. Teens are not bad drivers; they just need more experience behind the wheel to know what to do when an unsafe situation occurs. That is exactly what BMW CCA Foundation’s Street Survival Schools do for teens.

Street Survival School is a one day classroom and hands-on course sponsored by Tire Rack that creates a group of exercises that replicate adverse conditions and circumstances encountered in daily driving. Street Survival provides students a safe environment in which to learn and practice proper responses.

MBCA’s Educational Foundation has partnered with BMW CCA and SCCA and will be offering our help with the Street Survival Schools across the United States. MBCAEF would like to invite you to get involved. WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL. Help will be needed in registration, tech inspection, picking up cones and instructing students. MBCA members and others interested in volunteering his or her time at any of the following schools, please contact Mary Alice Cozza or call 330-222-1106.

Please share this information and encourage others to help save a life. Thank you.

APRIL

• Jupiter, FL. 4/19
• South Bend, IN. 4/19
• Dallas, TX 4/19
• Milford, Oh 4/19
• Daytona, Fl 4/19
• Gypsum, Co 4/26
• Knoxville, TN 4/26

MAY

• Champaign, IL. 5/3 or 10
• Madison, IL. 5/10
• Independence, MO. 5/10
• Loudon, NH. 5/11
• Aurora, CO. 5/17
• Wilkesboro, NC. 5/17
• Richmond,VA 5/31

JUNE

• Loudon, NH 6/21
• South Bend, IN 6/21
• Zionsville, IN 6/21
• Topeka, KS 6/28

JULY

• North Charleston, SC. 7/12
• Rosemount, MN. 7/19
• South Bend, IN. 7/19

AUGUST

• Lexington, KY 8/3
• Jupiter, FL 8/9
• Waterloo, IA 8/9
• South Bend, IN 8/16

SEPTEMBER

• Norfolk, VA. ?
• St. Louis, MO. ?
• Aurora, CO. 9/6
• Fresno, CA. 9/6
• Louisville, KY. 9/14 & 9/15
• Rosemount, MN. 9/20
• Loudon, NH. 9/21

OCTOBER

• Reno, NV 10/4 & 10/5
• Dallas, TX 10/4

Schools have been held at the following locations during 2007; however, not all schools for the list below have been confirmed for 2008:

• Simsbury, CT
• Ft. Wayne, IN
• Dulles, VA
• Watkins Glenn, NY
• San Francisco, CA
• Sykesville, MD
• Plymouth, MI. Runnels, IA
• Puunene, HI. Holmdel, NJ
• West Allis, WI. Milford, OH
• Rochester, NY. Denver, CO
• Edison, NJ. Houston, TX
• Blue Bell, PA. Ridley Park, PA
• Lawrenceville, GA. Chattanooga, TN
• Colorado Springs, CO
• Uniondale, NY

Thank you for your support,
Mary Alice Cozza
V.P. MBCAEF

The Mercedes-Benz Club of America Educational Foundation is a sponsor of this important driving program. We invite you to join us in our efforts to save lives. View Street Survival video…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our Community

• Serving all Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts
• Recognizing Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts and their contributions

Education

• Promote safe driving through hands-on education
• Promote educational scholarships for the restoration and preservation of MB automobiles

Preservation

• Encourage the preservation and act as a repository for MB vehicles, literature and memorabilia

Fund Raising

• Donations: We encourage all forms of donations (please contact us for more info).
• Automobiles: We accept donations of Mercedes-Benz and other vehicles, which may be sold or preserved.
• Memorabilia: Mercedes-Benz related books, sales literature, technical manuals, service manuals, posters, magazine collections, etc.
• Estate Planning and Gifting
• Contributions are tax deductible under IRS regulations 501(c)3

Driver Education

• Teach defensive driving through programs such as StreetSurvival ®
• Train volunteers and instructors to participate in our defensive driving programs

Scholarship Programs

• Provide educational assistance to students involved in the restoration, preservation, and/or engineering of Mercedes-Benz automobiles

How can you help the Foundation serve the community?
Sponsor a program in you name by making a donation.

Volunteer opportunities include:

• Serve on a EF committee
• Defensive driving instructors and event volunteers
• Fund raising volunteers

MBCAEF is a 501 (c) 3 Non-Profit Organization