OPERATION TEEN SAFE DRIVING PROGRAM PREPARES FOR ITS THIRD YEAR
Operation Teen Safe Driving is a statewide initiative spearheaded by the Illinois Department of Transportation's Division of Traffic Safety. The groundbreaking effort was designed to reduce teen crashes and save lives on Illinois' roadways. On Friday, officials from the IDOT and representatives from the Secretary of State, the Illinois State Police, and corporate sponsors including the Ford Motor Company Fund and the Allstate Foundation kicked off the third year of the program.
Operation Teen Safe Drive enlists young people to teach safe driving skills to their peers and engages high school students in a competition to design community-based driver safety programs targeted at teens. The program has helped Illinois achieve a dramatic 10 percent reduction in teen road fatalities in the first seven months of 2009; teen fatalities dropped from 50 in the first seven months to 2008, to 45 during the same time period this year.
Public and private high schools around the state are encouraged to identify the major teen traffic safety problems in their communities, and to propose creative solutions to those problems. High schools that come up with the most creative solutions will be invited to participate in the Ford Motor Company Fund's Driving Skills for Life "Ride and Drive" safe-driving clinics at the end of the school year. These "Ride and Drive" events feature professional drivers giving young drivers rigorous behind-the-wheel driving exercises.
