Press Release  MassDOT and Fundación Mapfre Announce Finalists in Road Safety PSA Contest 

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and Fundación Mapfre today announced that students from three Massachusetts high schools have been selected as finalists in the Look Both Ways Road Safety PSA Contest.     

High school students statewide were invited to create a public service announcement to reach their peers with important road safety messages. The winning students will work with Boston-based advertising agency CTP to produce the spot, which will air statewide. The winning school will also receive a $3,000 prize, provided by Fundación Mapfre.    

Finalists include:    

• Natick High School: Students: Mady Waterhouse and Alice O'Connor; Faculty Advisor: Lynne Tartaglia-Ricciotti  
• Natick High School: Students: Carly Golden and Morgan Bienstock; Faculty Advisor: Lynne Tartaglia-Ricciotti  
• Northbridge High School: Students: Antonio D'Alfonso, Braydon Dobelbower, Nathan Falconer, Nina McElreath, Zachary Kingsbury; Faculty Advisor: Kevin Newton 
• Shrewsbury High School: Students: Bridget Marshall ; Faculty Advisor: Debra Herbert 

The winner will be unveiled in late May, a busy month for young drivers attending high school proms and graduations and heading into the summer.   

"Under the Healey-Driscoll Administration, safety is our top priority, and that includes educating young drivers about the behaviors and decisions that keep everyone on our roadways safe," said Interim Secretary of Transportation and MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng. "Thank you to Fundación Mapfre for their continued partnership in this initiative, and to our student finalists who are helping to promote road safety among their peers across Massachusetts.”  

“At Fundación Mapfre, we believe peer-to-peer engagement is a powerful tool for influencing positive driving habits,” said Jaime Tamayo, Chief Representative of Fundación Mapfre in the United States and CEO of Mapfre Insurance. “These students are raising awareness and helping to shape a culture of responsibility and care among young drivers at a critical moment in their lives. We are proud to support their creativity and commitment to making Massachusetts roadways safer for everyone, especially during a season when the risks for teens are especially high.” 

The Look Both Ways program aims to eliminate road-related fatalities and serious injury through the messages delivered by the PSA contest and through a virtual reality driving simulation experience, the React Challenge, that tests a user’s safe driving ability when faced with distractions behind the wheel.   

About Fundación Mapfre’s Road Safety Initiative: Fundación Mapfre, a non-profit based in Madrid, Spain, with North American headquarters in Webster, Massachusetts, aims to promote the well-being of society and citizens. Prevention and Road Safety is an action area to which the foundation is dedicated. It believes that if the Vision Zero movement in 1997 led to a revolution in our understanding of Road Safety, the current goal should be to reach the point where there are no fatalities or people injured in traffic crashes.  

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