Anna Newhoff
NCR Reporter
Surviving Your Drive continues its outreach with new plans in place. The nonprofit was founded nearly a year ago by Sherry Weiscopf after Sydney, her 17-year-old daughter, was killed in a in a car accident April 28, 2024.
SYD has since expanded its outreach with new tools, school presentations, and an upcoming community event aimed to educated and prevent distracted and impaired driving.
One of the tools recently added is an in-car driving simulator. The simulator allows participants to safely experience how intoxication and distractions effect reaction time and decision-making behind the wheel.
The organization raised $12,700 through local donations to purchase the simulator. Its next fundraising goal is to secure a dedicated vehicle, either through purchase or donation, to permanently house the equipment. Until then, Surviving Your Drive is using a personal vehicle to transport the simulator.
The nonprofit will showcase the simulator during a community event at the Northeast Florida Fairgrounds scheduled for Feb. 28, with event hours to be announced. The donation-based event will feature insurance vendors, a touch-a-truck experience, a monster truck display, Life Flight participation, speakers, raffles, silent auctions, food, bounce houses, and children’s activities. An outdoor showing of the newer Footloose movie is scheduled for later in the evening.
In recent weeks, Weiscopf began speaking at schools throughout Northeast Florida in partnership with the Life Flight Experience. She has presented at two schools so far and hopes to speak at Nassau County schools when the program is brought to the area.
The school presentation focuses on sharing Sydney’s story to raise students’ awareness of the consequences of unsafe driving.
“Sydney was either their age or close to their age when she lost her life to a motor vehicle crash,” Weiscopf said. “It makes it more real than just a video.”
A 16-year-old failed to maintain his lane on County Road 121 and Batten Road and his truck veered into Sydney’s path. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Weiscopf recommends getting a dashcam so that families and investigators can truly know what happened in accidents like Sydney’s.
Sydney graduated early in 2024 from Nassau County Virtual School and previously attended West Nassau High School, where students later formed a club in her honor called Saving Young Drivers.
Weiscopf encourages students to hold one another accountable, avoid distracted and impaired driving, and take preventative measures such as using dash cams. She has said dash cams can provide families and investigators with critical information after serious crashes.
Surviving Your Drive continues to grow through local sponsorships, donations, and volunteer support across Northeast Florida. All funds raised so far have come from community donors.
For more information about Surviving Your Drive, visit the organization’s Facebook and Instagram, where upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and fundraising efforts, including the organization’s Amazon wish list, can be viewed.
“There is only one you. Your family and friends love you. Please do not drink and drive or drive distracted,” Weiscopf said. “You have an over 2,500-pound weapon when you choose not drive to your best ability. It can happen to you.”
reporter@nassau
countyrecord.com