New Approach to Identify Teens at Greatest Risk of Death and Injury From Motor Vehicle Crashes

Groundbreaking Teen Driving Assessment Tool and Curriculum, Teen-DASH(TM) for Safety, to be Offered Free to School Districts

SALT LAKE CITY, May 17 -- DriveSafety, in conjunction with the STAR Lab at Kansas State University, today announced a new resource for teen driver education, a science-based assessment tool and curriculum called Teen-DASH(TM) for Safety. DriveSafety also announced that it would make its curriculum available at no cost to all school districts in the country.

DriveSafety's Teen-DASH (Driver Awareness Survey for High Schools) is an online assessment tool and classroom-based curriculum that seeks to educate teens on various attitudes related to teen crash involvement. The objective of Teen-DASH is to raise teens' awareness of the relationship between their attitudes and their driving behavior. The curriculum is the result of a multi-phase research effort which began nearly two years ago and is now in its final phases. If proven successful, Teen-DASH could help to reduce deaths, injuries and economic losses associated with teen crashes.

"DriveSafety's Teen-DASH for Safety is a tool that complements traditional driver's education," said DriveSafety CEO Bill Woahn. "While traditional driver's education focuses on training driving skills, which are of course an important component to the overall driver's education experience, Teen-DASH adds value to current training methods by focusing on the attitudes that underlie unsafe teen driving behavior. We've demonstrated training effectiveness and are now focused on determining if such awareness impacts teen driving behavior."

Teen-DASH is a two-pronged curriculum: Driver education students first participate in an online attitudinal awareness psychosocial test battery that helps them become aware of their own personal attitudes. The in-class curriculum then educates teens about the key attitudinal indicators of an unsafe teen driver including, among others, risk taking style, anger style, beliefs about what causes crashes and beliefs about authority.

The assessment tool and curriculum are currently being piloted in the Jordan School District in Utah, the 42nd largest school district in the country, with approximately 5,700 driver education students annually. Training effectiveness of the curriculum has been measured at 99 percent.

The Teen-DASH curriculum was developed by Dr. Renee F. Slick, Director of the STAR Lab at Kansas State University, as a result of a large-scale two year research project funded by DriveSafety. Teen-DASH is based on an extensive literature review and experimental work using both college and high school student samples.

"Existing research shows that certain teen attitudes, beliefs, and characteristics are related to teen crash involvement," said Dr. Slick. "For example, we know that teens who are prone to boredom or who are adventure seekers are involved in more crashes. This assessment tool and curriculum focus on the key attitudinal indicators that together make up the profile of an unsafe teen driver."

Initial findings from the pilot study suggest that teen attitudes may vary from region to region. Teen-DASH allows school districts to assess the attitudes of their own student base and focus additional training on those attitudes of concern in addition to those general attitudes associated with the profile of an unsafe driver. By providing training that is specific to the needs of a given student population, educators can maximize training effectiveness while minimizing costs.

"Based on the findings in each school district, we can pair Teen-DASH with additional customized curricula according to the unique results of the district," said Woahn.

"As we look for innovative ways to improve driver education for teens, schools should consider participating in the Teen-DASH research project," said Morgan Brown, Alta High School (Sandy, Utah) driver's education supervisor. "The assessment and curriculum make the students really think about attitudes and consequences, which is a critical first step in changing the choices teens make regarding their driving behavior."

In the next phase of the study, DriveSafety will conduct a longitudinal study of the relationship between participating student's attitudes and their actual driving records. This data will provide insight as to the relationship between a teen's attitudinal profile and their real world driving behaviors.

"An important objective of the Teen-DASH study is to take the program nationwide to gather additional data and further validate the pilot findings," said Woahn. "We hope that school districts across the country will take advantage of this new innovative program, which DriveSafety is offering free of charge."

DriveSafety is seeking additional school districts to participate in the program, and to that end, is offering the curriculum free to interested school districts. Schools interested in participating in the program or learning more should go to http://www.drivesafety.com/.

DriveSafety, a Utah-based company, has been a leader in driving simulation technology to the automotive safety research community for over 10 years. DriveSafety provides software tools, technology and equipment to sophisticated research laboratories internationally. In 2003 DriveSafety focused its science and research expertise to begin a teen driving safety initiative. Through dedicated and disciplined research, DriveSafety defines teen driving problems, identifies solutions and then tests those solutions for real results. It is focused on a multi method training approach to solving teen driving problems including psychology, simulation and driver's education. DriveSafety is applying a systemic approach to solving the teen driving problem by listening to and educating teens, parents, educators, industry and government. For more information, visit http://www.drivesafety.com/.

The Simulation Training and Assessment Research Lab (STAR Lab) is one of the only laboratories in the world dedicated solely to the research of teen driving safety. Dr. Renee F. Slick, Director of the laboratory, has extensive experience in the psychology of driver training and assessment in educational, commercial and consumer environments. The STAR Lab is located on the campus of Kansas State University and is primarily funded by DriveSafety, Inc.