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

• Early driving performance in on-road assessment test [ Time Frame: 3 months after enrollment ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The first drive will be scheduled as soon after subjects have completed 12 +/- 2 weeks of practice. The subjects will use a beginner or "early" route for their first on-road driving assessment (ODA). The early route reflects the amount of time the subjects have been practicing. It does not include driving elements that are more suitable for a more experienced driver.
  
  

• Late driving performance in on-road assessment test [ Time Frame: 6 months after enrollment ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The second drive will be scheduled as soon after subjects have completed 24 +/- 2 weeks of driving practice. This drive is considered the "late" route, which includes more advanced driving environments.
  
  
• Number of participants who pass the Pennsylvania (PA) Junior licensure test [ Time Frame: Up to 12 months after enrollment ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The investigators will ascertain whether subjects passed the PA Junior Licensure Exam on their first attempt.
  
  

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.