Posted by eporter on April 23, 2024
How Mentoring Programs Can Promote Safe Driving Among Young People
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, which is an important time to spread awareness of the dangers of distracted driving and strategies to prevent it. Distracted driving can significantly increase the chance of vehicle crashes as well as death or injury for drivers and passengers. Distractions can come in various forms for drivers, including using a mobile device, eating or drinking, talking to passengers, or fidgeting with a navigation device or radio while driving.
Teenagers and young adults are at high risk for distracted driving. In fact, a 2019 study found that 39% of high school students reported texting or emailing while driving at least once in the preceding 30 days.1 Mentoring programs that serve teenagers and young adults have a unique opportunity to prevent distracted driving and promote safe driving among young people. Mentors can serve as a positive role model for young drivers by demonstrating safe driving practices for their mentee and/or encouraging their mentee to be safe and responsible on the road.
Even if a mentor is not a driver, mentors can promote safe driving in a mentee who is a young driver, is learning to drive, or is taking driver education courses by supporting their mentee and engaging in fun safe driving learning activities with their mentee. For example, Plan My Ride is an interactive, web-based safe driving training program designed for young drivers that matches can complete together. Plan My Ride contains a series of engaging, entertaining learning activities that young drivers can complete to learn and practice strategies to plan ahead, avoid substances, drive safely, communicate, and handle social situations, so they can avoid driving while distracted or impaired. The program targets skills to prevent substance use and driving under the influence of alcohol, cannabis, and opioids. In addition, the program targets strategies to avoid distracted driving caused by texting and driving.
Plan My Ride is strategically designed to be engaging and fun for young people, so they can retain information and strategies they have learned throughout the program. The program contains videos, animations, reflection activities, knowledge check quizzes, and brief, follow-up booster sessions to engage young drivers with the program’s content. In addition, the program includes immersive 360-degree videos containing scenarios designed to help learners practice applying skills they have learned in the program to make decisions to avoid impaired driving in a safe, realistic virtual environment.
Completing the Plan My Ride program alongside their mentee not only allows mentors to promote and reinforce safe driving skills in their mentee, but it also allows matches to engage in bonding experiences. Plan My Ride’s entertaining learning activities provide opportunities for matches to have fun together, and mentees may feel more motivated to participate in the program when they can complete it with someone else, rather than by themselves. In addition, research has shown that setting and working towards shared goals during match activities fosters stronger mentoring relationships.2 Plan My Ride provides ample opportunities for matches to set goals for themselves and work towards them together. For example, Plan My Ride gives young drivers the opportunity to create their own customized safe driving plan that includes strategies that they can implement in their everyday lives to avoid distracted and impaired driving. Matches can complete the plan together to set goals for their own driving behaviors and follow up with each other to discuss their progress and encourage one another to meet their goals.
The Plan My Ride program contains seven engaging lessons, three 360-degree video scenarios, and four brief, follow-up booster sessions that learners complete at two, four, six, and eight weeks after they complete the program. The program is self-paced, so matches can complete the program in portions at their own pace, according to what works best for their match’s schedule. For example, matches might choose to complete one lesson together during each match meeting. In addition, learners can complete the program on a cell phone, tablet, or computer, and with or without a virtual reality headset, at any location where they have internet access. Mentors and mentees can choose to complete some sections of the program together and other sections independently, or complete the entire program together.
If you are interested in offering the Plan My Ride program to matches in your program, so they can engage in fun activities together that promote safe driving, visit our website to get started.