Steve Dziadik cannot shake the memory of seeing his pregnant wife, covered in blood, being dragged out of a mangled car after a wreck nearly 40 years ago.
Dziadik acknowledges he was not paying attention while driving that New Year’s Day when he crashed the car into a stalled Cadillac on the side of an unlit Connecticut road. The couple lost their unborn baby that night.
“I would not wish on my worst enemy what I felt in that accident,” he said.
So the Sarasota retiree has embarked on a mission to prevent local young people from driving while distracted, whether due to talking, sending text messages or drinking alcohol.
Over the past six months, Dziadik, 63, has given 45-minute presentations on safe driving to about 600 teenagers at area high schools and churches. His seminars are free.
Dziadik had another bad crash in 1978 when he crashed head-on into a car while talking to passengers in his vehicle.
“You’d think I would have learned,” he said, shaking his head. “You let your guard down, it will bite you.”
Dziadik stresses to students that there are no do-overs when it comes to making a mistake behind the wheel.
He often shares recent news clippings of local teenagers who were killed in traffic accidents caused by carelessness. Many of the students in the classes know the deceased teenagers.
“I don’t want to depress them into safety,” said Dziadik, who sold auto and motorcycle insurance locally for seven years. “But they need to see the horrible side of it, the realistic side, the side no family wants to hear about.”
Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers. But because statistics are just numbers, Dziadik tries to put the ramifications of a wreck in terms students can relate to.
“Next time you go to another two-hour movie, you’ll know another teen has died in a crash somewhere,” he tells students.
The message seems to take hold. Andres Restrepo, a 16-year-old Manatee High junior who received his license a few weeks ago, said he stopped sending text-messages while driving after attending the seminar.
“I have a lot of friends who have gotten in accidents because of stupid mistakes, not paying attention or even alcohol,” he said. “It got them in a lot of trouble.”
Manatee High School driver education teacher Joe Roche plans to invite Dziadik back.
“He talks about choices the kids need to make and he illustrates his point well,” Roche said.
Dziadik has also written a 200-page book that will soon be released, “How’s My Driving?” It is a question he urges students to ask themselves daily.
“Remember these lessons at the ignition and not in the emergency room,” he says at the conclusion of his presentations.
Any school, church or other youth group interested in having Steve Dziadik talk to teenagers about safe driving can contact him directly to set up a presentation at no charge.
By phone: 941-228-8605
By e-mail: Steve.howsmydriving@gmail.com
Web site: stevedziadik.com