Traffic safety professionals agree that the problem of young driver safety is too great to rely on any single countermeasure to achieve significant crash rate reductions

This federal Project Grant award of $514,007 from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) under the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance High Priority Activities Grants and Cooperative Agreements program (CFDA 20.237) will support the expansion of the Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) and U in the Driver Seat peer-to-peer traffic safety education programs implemented by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI).

The grant, awarded from September 1, 2024 to September 30, 2026, will enable TTI to build upon its successful youth transportation safety initiatives by further engaging high school and college-aged students in positive peer-to-peer outreach focused on addressing the major risk factors for this age group. The funding will be used to implement comprehensive traffic safety education, outreach, and advocacy activities that leverage the influence of young drivers to promote safe driving behaviors and reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving young motorists.

There is a need for quality driver training, law enforcement, effective outreach, and parental involvement. But there is also a critical need for positive peer influence, the type that has been successfully demonstrated across the nation through the efforts of texas a m transportation institutes youth transportation safety program, which includes two foundational peer-to-peer education programs. Implemented in 2002, teens in the driver seat (TDS) is the first peer-to-peer program for teens that focuses solely on traffic safety and addresses all major risks for this age group. An expansion of these efforts included growth to college-aged groups, with the addition of the u in the driver seat program in 2012.