Problem Identification: Young driversare at risk of being involved in a crash. Over the three year period 2017-2019 in Ontario County, drivers under 21 years of age were involved in 1,277 (or 28%) of the fatal and personal injury crashes, but accounted for only 5% of the licensed drivers.. Unsafe speed accounted for 79% of the accidents drivers under 21 were involved in. When compared with all drivers, Ontario County drivers under 21 years of age in fatal and personal injury crashes were reported to have the following contributing factors in their crashes: Following Too Closely, Failure to Yield the Right-of-Way, Driver Inexperience and Driver Inattention.. According to the Traffic Safety Statistical Repository, Ontario County drivers under the age of 21 also received 5,915 non crash tickets and citations over the three year period. Speeding accounted for 2,545 (43%) of those tickets, texting accounted for 29%, other cellphone violations 21%, and seat belt violations 4%. Proposed Solution: Ontario County created a driving program called JUST Drive. It stands for Juveniles Understanding Safe Traffic. This program is 5 hours long and it includes a 60 minute juvenile distracted driving impact panel and the 4 hour Alive at 25 program. The juvenile distracted driving impact panel would include speakers from law enforcement, first responders or victims of distracted driving accidents. The panel would precede the Alive at 25 course to allow youth attending the program to fully understand their actions. While Alive at 25 help youth recognize positive characteristics that can help them and their friends make wise driving decisions, JUST Drive is designed for prevention, allowing those youth who have received a ticket to bring a friend to the course with them which would allow youth to learn defensive driving skills, improve positive choices, raise awareness to poor driving conduct and identify actions to keep control whether they are the passenger or driver. Goal: Reduce the number of tickets issued to drivers under 21 by 10% over the next year. Reduce the number of fatal and personal injury crashes with drivers under 21 by 10% over the next year. Increase safe driving skills and defensive driving skills in youth under 21 by 25% over the next year. Objectives: We would conduct a pre and post attitudinal survey to our youth participating in the program. We would follow up 6 months and 12 months after the program with our youth and the District Attorney's office to see if any new traffic infractions were issued to youth who participated in our program. Positive change in driving skills among drivers under 21 by collecting data from the DMV, surveys and TSSR reports. The National Safety Council has asked that our program be involved in their DDC Effectiveness Studies project. The project’s goal is to deliver several studies demonstrating how Driver Safety Courses can change driver behaviors leading to better corporate outcomes. Operational Plan: To obtain these goals, we will offer JUST Drive class on a Saturday every other month at different locations throughout the County. Bristol Town Hall has donated their space as needed for the class. Each class will have a maximum of 15 slots to sign up. We will increase the number of classes depending on attendance. Youth who participate in our program will be referred to us from the Ontario County District Attorney's office and police agencies. Youth must attend the whole program and complete the pre and post attitudinal survey to receive a certificate of completion for court. The Ontario County District Attorney's office has given us their full support and has agreed to reduce tickets given to youth if they successfully complete our program. Emily Henderson, Program Coordinator for Ontario County Youth Court, will teach the program and oversee the juvenile distracted driving impact panel. Evaluation Plan: We will assess the program's accomplishments, achievements and shortcomings by reviewing preliminary ticket data from the TSSR yearly to determine if there has been a reduction in numbers. We will provide a baseline attitudinal survey for youth to complete prior to engaging in the program. We will then provide an attitudinal survey immediately following the completion of the program, 6 months after and 12 months after. The National Safety Council has asked that our program be involved in their DDC Effectiveness Studies project. The project’s goal is to deliver several studies demonstrating how Driver Safety Courses can change driver behaviors leading to better outcomes. Better outcomes lead to reduced corporate costs such as workers compensation and liability insurance. We will work with the DMV in Ontario County to receive numbers of youth driver's receiving their license so that we can accurately determine what percentage they are in the overall licensed drivers in the County.
