Sparkplug Bollens Seeks Safe Driving

Highlands resident Eric Bollens, a self-described adrenaline junkie and former street racer, will receive a Golden Sparkplug Award on April 22 for his efforts to promote safe driving among teens and adults alike in Pacific Palisades.   ’The culture of speed is alluring,’ Bollens, 20, said during an interview on Monday. ‘When you want to have fun or are depressed or want to impress someone, you put your foot to the floor and press the pedal.’   That attitude changed after his close friend, Nick Rosser, a senior at Palisades High School, died in a car crash on Palisades Drive in early 2009. As he drove uphill to his home in the Highlands, Rosser’s car spun out and struck an oncoming vehicle at about 6 p.m.   ’I still remember every second from the first phone call I received about him to the texts that followed,’ said Bollens, now a junior at UCLA. ‘I didn’t believe it; I couldn’t believe it’We got away with it [speeding] for so long.’   On the night of the accident, Bollens gathered with other friends of Rosser to try and understand why the tragedy happened. ‘A year later, it still doesn’t make sense,’ Bollens said. ‘Whenever anyone was involved in an accident before, I could always rationalize that it was because they were drinking or another reason, but this time the cause was speeding.’ As Bollens spoke about the street-racing culture, his eyes became intense. ‘Speed takes everything away,’ he said. ‘It’s just you and your car.’ He and his friends would sometimes drive to the Valley to street race, and have admitted that racing up and down Palisades Drive was not uncommon.   ’I never comprehended until that moment [Rosser’s death],’ Bollens said. ‘I never believed until then that someone I knew would die [because of speeding].’   Bollens and friends attended the first community meeting held in Rustic Canyon to address the speeding problem on Palisades Drive and Sunset Boulevard. ‘We wanted to give a wakeup call,’ he said, remembering how he challenged the police and the city for being lazy about enforcement.   After Rosser’s death, Bollens stopped going to classes at UCLA and said his instructors were sympathetic. He passed all of his courses by getting A’s on the finals. During that time of reflection, he decided that the best way he could honor Nick was to educate other teens.   He then had to make a conscious effort not to speed. ‘Changing myself was the first piece,’ Bollens said. ‘Nick’s death has become part of my life.’   Striving to prevent future tragedies, Bollens became an active member on the education committee of Safe Westside, a newly formed group that was investigating ways to stop accidents and deaths on local roads. He encouraged youth to sign the Pledge to Save Lives and developed the group’s Web site. He organized a panel of experts, including police, defense and prosecuting attorneys, insurance representatives and an advanced driving instructor, that he brought before students and parents at Palisades High and Crossroads.   In the coming year, Bollens wants to expand the program to other high schools. He will be one of the guest speakers for the ninth- and tenth-grade segment of Every 15 Minutes, a two-day safe driving program that will take place in late April at PaliHi.   ’Because speed is so alluring, the only way to get them [teens] to stop is to tell my story and make them understand,’ Bollens said. ‘It’s become one of my jobs.’   Bollens, who is majoring in computer science and technology management, works 20 hours a week as a security analyst in UCLA’s Office of Information Technology (IT) security, which means he tries to hack into their system to show programming weaknesses. Since 2004, when he was a sophomore at Crossroads, he has run Bollens Information Technology, delivering a variety of solutions including office support and training, Web application development, and IT infrastructure deployment. He is also the senior partner and director of core development for AnodyneSoft, a start-up IT firm. After Bollens joined a group of residents who learned to use the speed radar gun on Palisades Drive in conjunction with LAPD West Traffic, he found his attitude about the police changed. ‘Some people don’t like it because they blame us when they get tickets, rather than blaming themselves,’ he said. ‘I would’ve been that way before Nick died.’ When citizens use radar guns, they note the license plate of the speeder and then letters are sent by the LAPD as a warning. ‘If Rosser’s parents had gotten one of these letters, they would have taken away his car,’ Bollens said. Winning the Community Council Sparkplug’s Award is an honor, but Bollens doesn’t feel his work is complete. ‘This has been about getting stuff done,’ he said. ‘I’m asking DOT (Department of Transportation) for K-rails on Palisades Drive. It’s been an ongoing effort.’   When he has spare time, the full-time student likes to surf, work on his Krav Maga (martial arts) and frequent the Habibi Cafe in Westwood. His parents, Gene Lewis and Dr. Ross Bollens, also have a daughter, Katherine, who attends Viewpoint School.