At Teens in the Driver Seat we try to drive home the importance of sharing the road and imprint a shared responsibility.
Teens are sharing the road with large trucks and buses. Thanks to support from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, we’ve been fortunate enough to create big rig and truck safety messaging, which focuses on blind spots, stopping distance and much more. Trucks and buses are extremely large, travel long distances, and deliver the goods we need, which is why we coined the phrase Respect the Rig to hopefully build mutual respect between teen drivers and truck drivers.
Another person we share the road with are train conductors. In 2019, there were nearly 2,217 railroad crossing incidents and 293 deaths. Our partner, Union Pacific supports us to do rail safety and pedestrian safety outreach to raise awareness and prevent railroad crossing incidents. Our messaging discourages teens from walking on tracks, and educates on what to do in the case of a collision by using the Emergency Notification Sign. YTS program schools have access to this safety messaging within in our presentations, print toolkit, social media, and online resource pages.
Lastly, we remind teen drivers to share the road with vulnerable road users, such as bicyclists and pedestrians; and there are not more young pedestrians and bicyclists on the road than during peak school drop-off and pick-up hours. Teens in the Driver Seat delivers a pedestrian and bicycle safety educational toolkit that emphases Respecting the Rules of the Road and our messaging promotes positive behavior year-round to prevent fatal and serious car crash injuries.
To learn more about our Share the Road initiatives, please Contact Us.