Skyler Atkinson understands the dangers of teens driving too swiftly, inattentively or recklessly.

She also knew Andrew Bonwell, 18, a classmate at Auburn High School, who was killed in a high-speed car accident on A Street last May, just weeks before graduation.

“I knew him my whole life … went to preschool and daycare with him,” said Atkinson, now a junior at Auburn High. “His death affected me, and it definitely affected the school.”

Last year also saw the loss of a recent Auburn High graduate in a fatal street racing accident. There were other such tragedies reported on streets and highways in King and Pierce counties.

Such a growing problem has galvanized the school’s DECA class in a concentrated crusade to discourage risky, illegal street racing on local streets. DECA students, under the guidance of advisor Lori Jacobs, are launching the “Drive Fast, Get Dead Last” campaign, an effort to raise public awareness of the perils of street racing and make an impact to decrease the number of incidents in Auburn and surrounding communities.

The DECA project recently received a financial infusion to make it go. Jacobs and the school were awarded a $2,500 Shift into Safety grant sponsored by State Farm Insurance Companies.

Atkinson and fellow juniors Hannah Angle and Parker Bushaw are spearheading the campaign, the purpose of which is to educate its target audience – teens to age 25 – about the real dangers of street racing. The DECA campaign hopes to remove the widespread belief that street racing is “cool” and replace it with a negative stigma.

Bushaw, for one, knows street racing is a popular topic among thrill-seeking students.

“When you walk from school you can hear kids talking about racing all the time,” he said. “It’s just huge, and there’s no big campaign against it.”

While motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among teens in the country, according to National Center for Statistics and Analysis, street racing is contributing to it. The popularity of the sport – glamorized in such films as “Rebel Without a Cause”, “Grease” and “The Fast and the Furious” – is fueling its share of teen deaths each year.

Street racing was listed as a factor in 135 fatal crashes in 2001, the same year “The Fast and the Furious” was released, nearly doubling the amount in 2000, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Nationwide statistics show that 49 people are injured for every 1,000 who participate in illegal street racing.

A new study from Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) indicated that a vast majority of teens (97 percent) admit that street racing is dangerous, listing it above cell phone use, speeding, having more than three passengers in the car and other factors.

Nevertheless, the research also revealed that more than one-third of teen drivers (38 percent) says they have engaged in street racing.

“There isn’t a lot of awareness about street racing, and there’s a lot of things that promote it,” Angle said. “For many of us, (this problem) hits close to us … and we want this to stop.”