Newly licensed teens have an extremely high risk for crashes. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in 2003 there were 5,691 teenagers (13-19 year olds) that died in motor vehicle crashes (IIHS, 2003). This amounts to more than a third of deaths from all causes for teenagers (Chen, Baker, Braver, & Li, 2000; IIHS, 2005). Thus, motor vehicle crashes are a primary cause of death amongst young teens. Moreover, teen drivers (15 to 19 years) are the demographic group with the largest number of fatalities in the state of Minnesota.

The objective of this project is to examine the use of event-triggered video feedback to reduce urban teen unsafe driving. Using system and parent feedback, we hope to significantly reduce the number of unsafe driving behaviors of newly licensed urban teens. This research project is different from other interventional studies because it gives clear, in-context driver feedback in the form of video and audio of the entire event. It is hoped that such feedback will help teen drivers improve their driving for the long-term so that they learn to anticipate other traffic and maneuvers.

In response to the epidemic of teen driver fatalities, the Universities of Iowa and Minnesota propose leading a pilot project examining the use of new methods to motivate safe teen driving. This method will examine teen driving during the first 6-12 months after obtaining a driver license and is based on using an event-triggered video system to record and give feedback about unsafe driving behavior for teen drivers. The system provides two forms of feedback to the teen driver. First, the system gives blinks and LED to tell the driver that an event trigger has been detected and recorded. Second, video feedback recorded during the unsafe driving episodes is combined with a parent-teen `coaching¿ protocol. The coaching protocol is used to provide support for expected behavioral changes in teen drivers. This pilot research program will provide new insights that can be applied to the long-term development of positive driving habits for urban teens. The proposed study will recruit 40 teens (20 males and 20 females) from one high school in the twin cities area. This study would be built on the framework and protocols of a rural teen driver study currently underway in rural Tiffin, Iowa, being conducted by the University of Iowa.

Each partner state contribute $80,000 over two years.