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The Vox Box

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Car Accident Connection

Schools official in Lexington, Kentucky, favor a later start to the average school day, just like the students!

Experimentally, the school officials pushed back the beginning of the school day by only one hour for middle and high school students, and they found less teen-related car accidents, a benefit caused by more rested and alert student drivers in the community.

Through school-wide surveys, the officials were able to prove that the normal teen rested more once the starting school times changed.  Only 38 percent of the students in the community received eight or more hours of sleep before the survey, and 50 percent received this much sleep afterwards.

Student car accidents decreased by 16 percent two years after the initial time change for 17- and 19-year-olds in Fayette County, where Lexington is located.  Throughout the rest of the state, teen car crashes were reduced by eight percent.

In 2006, then-editor Steve Smith of The Spokesman-Review had the idea of starting a publication for an often forgotten audience: teenagers. The Vox Box was a continuation of the Vox, an all-student staffed newspaper published by The Spokesman-Review. High school student journalists who staffed the Vox made all content decisions as they learn about the trade of journalism. This blog's mission was to give students an opportunity to publish their voices. The Vox Box and the Vox wrapped up in June 2009, but you can follow former staffers' new blog at http://voxxiez.blogspot.com.