HUTTO, Texas — The City of Hutto is offering a new scholarship to help teenagers become better drivers.
The Hutto Police Department (HPD) said it has seen a lot of growth and more cars on the road, so it wants to ensure those behind the wheel have a proper foundation.
The Hutto Police Officers Association donated the money for the scholarship to pay for some students' entire driver's education.
Police said they are seeing more traffic collisions, speeding and reckless driving violations and parking issues around some of the city’s school campuses. A lot of these issues involve teens starting to drive.
HPD hopes that by offering these scholarships and making sure teens get the proper driving education, it will reduce those problems and make the roads safer for the community.
Regardless of whether they get the scholarships or not – or even if they live in Hutto or somewhere else – police said it's important for young drivers to learn to drive responsibly, defensively and follow the law.
"Everybody wants to live in a safe community. Everybody wants to, you know, have their roads be safe, and nobody wants to be in a car wreck or have a family member in a car wreck, especially a child," Sgt. Cody Long, president of the Hutto Police Officers Association, said. "That's a bad day for everybody. So we're trying to make everybody have as many good days as we can."
The police department also said this is a great opportunity to give back to the community financially.
"A lot of people see us as writing tickets, which takes money out of their pocket. This might be a way for us to help people not only not receive those tickets in the first place, but for a way to help them financially to be better drivers," Lt. Conor Mitchell said.
The scholarship is open to all Hutto ISD students and students with a Hutto address. Applications are due on April 1.