Joe Imel/Daily News Bowling Green High School’s Sha’Niqua Allen (center), 16, looks at a trophy Thursday with teacher Sandra McCoy (from left) and students Daniel Ballard, 15, and Matt Hubbard, 17. McCoy’s class won first place in the sixth annual public service announcement contest. The theme this year was distracted driving.

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Imagine you’re 17 and driving. You have one hand on the wheel and are using the other to text message a friend. Preoccupied, you didn’t see the kid on the bike - until he’s flipping up on your windshield.

While this scenario was only a dramatization by Bowling Green High School sophomores Daniel Ballard, 15, Sha’Niqua Allen, 16, and Matt Hubbard, 17, in Sandra McCoy’s multimedia class, it is something that can happen. And these three - through a 30-second public service announcement - made it clear that distractions while driving have consequences.

The students in McCoy’s class took first place in the annual public service announcement contest through the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. This year’s theme focused on distracted driving. As their award for first place, the three students received iPods donated by Hughes and Coleman, T-shirts, a trophy for the school and $300.

“I don’t know if this will end up on TV, but it would be a great PSA to broadcast,” McCoy said. “It’s realistic. Things like that can really happen out on the street.”

This is the sixth year the PSA contest has been offered to the state’s high schools, and the third year BGHS has participated.

The students said they had fun putting the PSA together, and learned many techniques about editing video and working a camera. The three said they also learned more about their subject in the process.

“Keep both hands on the wheel and eyes on the road,” Hubbard said.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds, said Keirsten Jaggers, information officer for the state transportation cabinet. The high mortality rate for the age group is caused by high-risk behaviors, including failure to wear safety belts, speeding, driving while impaired and distracted driving.

“Teenagers are faced with all kinds of distractions, from electronic devices to having others in the car,” Jaggers said. “Most of them are at-risk drivers because they don’t have a lot of experience ... throw in weather conditions ... (and they’re) not prepared to handle a lot that comes with driving.”

Allen said she learned that a lot of people text message while driving.

“There’s a time to text and a time to drive,” she said.

Kentucky has had one of the highest teen crash rates in the nation, Jaggers said. She said teen drivers account for 6 percent of Kentucky’s driving population, but are involved in about 18 percent of fatal crashes in the state.

“Anything can be a distraction,” Ballard said. “It’s important to be a safe driver so you don’t put others or yourself in danger.”