Montgomery Department of Transportation and Partners Host Youth Safety Lab to Help Young and Future Drivers During National Teen Driver Safety Week

For Immediate Release: Monday, October 21, 2019

Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and the National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS) today hosted a Youth Interactive Safety Lab at Glenmont Local Park in Wheaton to help young drivers, and future drivers, be better prepared for experiences behind the wheel. Approximately 160 local high school and middle school students attended the interactive event that featured a morning of learning about traffic safety and the rules of the road.

The event took place during National Teen Safe Driving Week (Oct. 20-26) as a culmination of the Vision Zero Youth Ambassador Program, which is a collaboration between MCDOT and NOYS to encourage youth to have an active role in road safety efforts and improvements. Other partner organizations in the event included the County Park Police, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission’s Department of Parks.

Montgomery County is one of the first county governments in the United States to initiate a Vision Zero plan. The County has put resources in place to reduce severe and fatal collisions on County roads, with the hope to eliminate traffic-related deaths by 2030.

National Teen Driver Safety Week is an ideal time to take advantage of local and national resources provided to educate teens on safe driving practices. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens 15 to 18 years old in the United States, ahead of all other types of injury, disease, and violence. In 2017, there were 2,247 people killed in crashes involving a teen driver (15-18 years old), of which 755 deaths were the teen driver. In 2017, there were an estimated 93,000 teen drivers injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes, and an estimated 293,000 people injured in crashes involving a teen driver, accounting for an estimated 11 percent of all those injured that year.

Parents can look for guidance on how to talk about safe driving behavior with teens on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Safety Administration website at www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/teen-driving. The website has tips on how to talk about safe driving behaviors with teens, detailed information and statistics on teen driving and outlines the basic rules parents can use to help reduce the risks for teen drivers and discourage dangerous driving behaviors including alcohol, lack of seat belt use, distracted driving, speeding, and driving with passengers.

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Release ID: 19-348
Media Contact: Neil H. Greenberger 240-777-6532