An Evaluation of a Web-based Intervention Program for Parents and Teens to Promote Safe Driving

• Late Driving Performance in On-road Assessment (ODA) Test [ Time Frame: 24 weeks after enrollment ]
  The primary outcome was driving performance as measured by the teens completion of the standardized and validated ODA 24 weeks after enrollment. Certified professional driving evaluators blinded to randomization status terminated the ODA if they determined that the teen could not safely complete it. Criteria for termination included: (1) a driver action or inaction requiring evaluator intervention to prevent a collision; (2) a driving task requiring assistance from the evaluator to be performed safely; (3) violation of a traffic law; (4) evasive action needed by another vehicle or a pedestrian to avoid a collision; or (5) a subjective assessment by the evaluator that the teenager could not continue safely. We examined the teens ability to complete the ODA as measured by the number of terminations.
  
  

Motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of death among teens in the United States. Teen drivers (ages 16 to 19) are four times more likely to be involved in fatal crashes than adult drivers (ages 25 to 69). Inexperience is a fundamental factor in the high crash rate for novice teens. Safe and skilled driving is a complex task that involves behaviors (e.g., skills and actions) that vary and become increasingly challenging with increasing speed, unsafe road conditions and other hazards of the driving environment. Because teens are at their lowest lifetime risk of crashing when accompanied by an adult, adult-supervised practice provides a safe way for teens to gain needed experience under a variety of driving conditions. Unfortunately, few teens receive sufficient quantity, quality and diversity of adult-supervised practice prior to licensure.

The objective of the proposed research is to compare how the driving training process and the results of that training process differ between a group of young learning permit holders in families that have access to TDP (the intervention group) from the training process and the results of that process in an otherwise similar group of teens in families with no TDP access (the control group). The investigators hypothesize that teens given access to TDP will demonstrate greater competence and safety in a standardized on-road driving assessment than teens with no TDP access.