KLK576 Educating Idaho Teenage Drivers of the Dangers of Distracted Driving

ITD Research Project 251; Task Order Number UI-16-03

Principal Investigators

• Ahmed Abdel-Rahim

ITD Project Manager

• John Tomlinson

FHWA Project Advisor

• Lance Johnson

Student Researchers

• —

Research Problem Statement

Multi-tasking while driving has been known to be a serious safety hazard for drivers, as well as other individuals sharing the road, such as pedestrians and cyclists. According to recent report published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, it has been estimated that over 9 people die and another 1,153 are injured daily in the United States (U.S.) in vehicle crashes in which the driver was distracted. Among all drivers, teenage and novice drivers are more susceptible of been involved in crashes. According to the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), at any given time during daylight hours, about 1 in 12 individuals are using a cell phone while driving. In 2011, about 2,650 teens in the United States aged 16 to 19 were killed and almost 292,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes. This data shows that seven teen’s ages 16 to 19 died every day as result of the injuries suffered on motor vehicle crashes. As much as 21% of drivers between the ages of 15 and 19 that were involved in fatal crashes were distracted by cell phones at the time of the crash.

Region 10 USDOT University Transportation Center (PacTrans), a consortium of five universities in the northwest region that is led by the University of Washington and includes the University of Idaho, Oregon State University, Washington State University, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks has just completed a two-year outreach effort focusing on educating teenage drives in the Pacific Northwest region about the danger of distracted driving. The findings of this outreach effort showed that educating young drivers about the danger of distracted driving has significant impact on teenage driver perception about what constitute distraction and the risk associated with distracted driving. The project findings also showed that such education and outreach effort reduce teenage drivers’ involvement in distracted activities while driving.

In this project, we will develop, test, and implement education and outreach activities directed at teenage drivers in Idaho with the primary objective of educating them of the dangers of distracted driving. The education and outreach activities proposed for this project include the followings: 1) interactive presentations at different high schools throughout Idaho, 2) a competition for high school students in each of ITD’s six districts to produce short videos focusing on the danger of distracted driving, 3) a competition for high school students in Idaho to develop distracted-driving short messages that can be displayed in different changeable message signs (CMS), and 4) implementation of the developed distracted-driving short messages at different CMSs through the state.

The interactive presentation will be pilot tested at several high schools in Idaho. The presentations will focus on what constitute distractions, how distractions impact the cognitive abilities of the driver, the negative safety consequences of distracted driving, and state law regarding distracted driving and the possible citations. The presentations will also promote available cell phone applications that aim to reduce distracted driving crashes, such as the Drive First and DriveSafe.ly applications. Before each presentation, students will answer a survey that will include questions about their current driving behavior. These questions will be answered by the use of clickers, a device that promotes participation in the classroom and ensures anonymity of the responder; is more likely that students answer questions honestly if they feel that they cannot be identified by their answers. After the presentation, students will again answer some questions, but these questions will ask about their expected future driving experiences and if the presentations were able to change their perspectives on driving while using the cellphone and other distractions.

A follow-up survey will be conducted on a sample of students after three month of the presentation. The objective of the follow-up questions will be to determine the percentage of high school students that did commit to drive safely by modifying their driving behavior, the percentage of those who return to their old driving habits after some time period, and the percentage of students who never did make any changes to their driving manners. The effectiveness of the CMS short messages will be assessed through a before and after study on the number of distracted driving citations and crashes on roadway segments downstream from the signs. An in-depth interview with students who participate in the short video and CMS messages completions will be used to assess the potential impact of involving high schools students in such distracted driving public campaigns in changing their driving habits.

The project will build on the previous outreach effort that the University of Idaho and other universities have developed as part of the PacTrans outreach effort. The presentations and assessment tools developed as part of the PacTrans project will be the base for the presentations and assessment tools implemented in this project. Additionally, some PacTrans outreach funds will be used to support some of the activities proposed as part of this project.

Project Objectives

The objective of this research project efforts are: 1) to develop an interactive driver-distracted presentation that can be used at different high schools in Idaho to educate teenage drivers about the danger of distracted driving, 2) to test the effectiveness of developed interactive presentation in promoting safe driving among teenage drivers, 3) to identify the most effective short messages that can be implemented in CMS to influence driving behavior of teenage drivers in Idaho regarding distracted driving, 4) test the effectiveness of using CMS short messages to influence teenage drivers driving behavior, and 5) test the effectiveness of involving high school students in distracted-driving public campaigns in improving their awareness of the danger of distracted driving.

Project Tasks

Task 1: Document Existing Resources. This task involves documenting distracted driving public campaigns existing education and outreach resources focusing on those targeting teenage drives.

Task 2: Establish Project Stakeholders. In this task different project stakeholders and their contact representatives will be identified. Stakeholders include public school districts, Idaho public charter school commission, Idaho coalition of home educators, tribal communities, CMS system operators, law enforcement agencies, media outlet, and other agencies that are relevant to the project scope and objectives.

Task 3: Develop Interactive Presentation. An interactive presentation to educate teenage drivers about what constitute distraction to the driving task and the negative consequences of distracted driving will be developed in this task. The presentation will use Idaho specific cases and examples.

Task 4: Develop Website for Short Video and Text Message Competitions. This task involves the development of website pages to manage the on-line submission of the short video and text message competition. The task will also involve the development of social media pages and other media elements for that will be used as part of the competition. Students who participate in the competitions will register for the competition and submit their videos and short text messages through this website.

Task 5: Define Competition Rules, Deadlines, and Evaluation procedures. In this task, the project team will work with the project TAC and different stakeholders for the project to define the competition rules, deadlines, and evaluation procedures.

Task 6: Test the Effectiveness of the Interactive Presentation. The effectiveness of the interactive presentation, developed as part of task 3 if this project, will be tested in three public schools in Idaho. A before and after survey will be conducted to test the effectiveness of the presentation in changing Idaho’s teenage drivers regarding the danger of distracted driving.

Task 7: Evaluate Competition Submission. In this task, the competition submissions will be evaluated according to the evaluation procedures defined in task 5 to identify the winning submissions.

Task 8: Conduct Interview with a sample of High School Students before the Competition. In this task, in-depth phone interviews will be conducted with a sample of students who are registered to participate in the short video competition. The interview will document their perception of what constitute distractions to the driving task and to the danger of distracted driving.

Task 9: Conduct Interview with a sample of High School Students after the Competition. In this task, in-depth phone interviews will be conducted with a sample of students who participated in the short video competition. The interview will document their perception of what constitute distractions to the driving task and to the danger of distracted driving. A comparison of the before-competition and after-competition will document the effectiveness of competition in changing Idaho’s teenage drivers regarding the danger of distracted driving.

Task 10: CMS Distracted Driving Short Messages Implementations. As part of this task, effective short messages, identified as a result of the short message competition, will be implemented for a week in different CMS messages throughout the states.

Task 11: Conduct Before-After Analysis for the CMS implementation. This task involves a before-and-after analysis to test the effectiveness of the CMS messages in reducing the number of distracted driving related crashes and distracted driving citations in the vicinity of the CMSs at which the distracted driving messages are implemented. Crash and citation data will be obtained from local law enforcement agencies in different districts.

Task 12: Project Final Report.

Project Communication Schedule

Monthly project progress report (ITD 771)

Quarterly project meeting with the project's technical oversight committee

Needs and Requirements

—

Required Outputs/Deliverables

• The required outputs and deliverables for this project will include:
• Monthly progress reports,
• Written quarterly reports to be submitted prior to quarterly meetings,
• A literature review summary,
• Draft articles suitable for publication in the ITD electronic newsletter at both the start and end of the project.
• Final Report

Implementation

This education and outreach project will directly contribute to an increased awareness of the risks associated with distracted driving among teenage drivers improving the safety for all road users in Idaho.

Expected Outcomes/Savings to ITD

Benefits of this project include

• reduction in distracted-driving related crashes for teenage drivers in Idaho,
• increased awareness of the danger of distracted driving amongst Idaho teens,
• distracted-driving education and outreach tools (interactive presentations and CMS short messages) that are effective and pilot tested, and
• increased youth involvement in ITD related activities.

This research project aligns with Idaho’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan and supports the top performance measure of eliminating fatalities and serious injuries on all Idaho roadways focusing on a high-risk group.

Monthly Progress Reports (ITD 771) and Task Progress Charts

Project status:

Active

Draft report:

Due March 15, 2017

Final report:

Due May 31, 2017

Download Adobe Reader