Lemon Grove Academy to Host ‘Start Smart’ Event for New Teen Drivers

A San Diego Sheriff’s Department program to reduce teen drinking and driving could be rated R—for Reality check. It resumed this month and will run through early 2013.

According to its “Start Smart” program website, new drivers will be shown “often-graphic videos and daunting statistics” in two-hour classes being held around San Diego County.

Lemon Grove Academy for the Sciences and Humanities, formerly Lemon Grove Middle School, will host the program from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7.

“The Start Smart Program is an opportunity for new drivers and their parents/guardians to clearly understand their responsibilities when a teen starts to drive,” the Sheriff’s Department says.

“Taught by trained law enforcement personnel, it creates awareness of possible consequences, both financial and physical, of distracted or impaired driving, and provides applicable information about collision prevention. The class also clarifies the restrictions of the Provisional License Law and touches on social host ordinances.”

After the class, teens get a certificate of completion along with a custom-designed key chain bearing the theme of the Teen Safe Driving Program, “which will serve as a reminder each time he or she starts the car,” the program site says.

See the schedule of classes.