SALT LAKE CITY — As the new school year begins, Utah teens are grabbing their car keys alongside their backpacks — and state safety officials are ramping up efforts to make sure they arrive at school safely.
The Utah Highway Safety Office is raising awareness about the risks facing new and inexperienced drivers, pointing to a troubling trend from last year.
"A little bit of an anomaly last year where we had a severity spike in teen driver crashes, not just in fatalities, but in serious injury crashes as well," Jason Mettmann, communications manager for the Utah Highway Safety Office, said.
Mettmann acknowledged that getting behind the wheel for the first time is a milestone moment for many teens.
"The freedom that teens experience with their new driver's license is exciting, and it is a bit of a rush to be excited to get out there in your vehicle and get to school on your own," Mettmann said.
However, less experience comes with less ability to react quickly in dangerous situations. That's why the Utah Department of Transportation is taking its safety message directly to teens — on social media.
Aimee Colton, social media manager for UDOT, said the department's target audience is everyone, but the focus on younger drivers is intentional.
"We don't want to just scold or be that government entity that doesn't connect with people or connect with the youth. We want them to connect and feel related to us, so that is a huge part of why we're fun. Actually our Instagram audience, our largest following is men 18 to 35, which is exactly who we want to talk to with safety messages," Colton said.
UDOT's approach involves drawing inspiration from accounts and creators that young people already follow.
"I like to follow other accounts that are people that they find influential or interesting and then take some inspiration from that and say, OK, they really like these people, how can we maybe take some of the content that they're doing and build it into our own? And so we want to also be an influencer, if you will, to them," Colton said.
Colton said storytelling is at the heart of the strategy, regardless of the platform.
"Even though it is social media, it is storytelling, and so if you can share a compelling story, I think people connect with that across all different mediums," Colton said.
The goal is for that online engagement to translate into safer behaviors on the road.
"You need to make sure that you're getting to school safely and doing so with safe speeds, always driving buckled, making sure you're not distracted so we can get there safe," Mettmann said.
Parents also play a critical role in shaping teen driving habits. A study conducted by the Center for Injury and Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that teens whose parents were highly involved in their driving process reported half the crash risk compared to those without parental involvement. Those teens were also less likely to drive under the influence or use cell phones while driving, and reported wearing seat belts more often.
Interactive lessons and resources for parents and teens are available at publications.aap.org.
DRIVEN TO CHANGE
