Dear Readers,

Periodically I like to share news relating to tires and driving, and I thought this was a great program worth mentioning. On October 18, Toyota and Discovery Education announced two exciting contests in which teachers and teens are invited to come up with their most creative ideas for promoting safe teen driving habits. While these contests give students and teachers the opportunity to win some big prizes, the best part is the energy, attention, and motivation they inspire surrounding a critically important topic – teen driving safety.

Surpassing tragedies caused homicide and suicide, as well as deaths from cancer and heart disease, vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of teen fatalities, claiming more lives than all of the others combined.  This has been a troubling trend for the past several years, and in 2010, Toyota and Discovery Education teamed up to create Toyota Teen Driver, a comprehensive program and website to provide safe-driving tools and resources to educators, students and parents. This year, the program includes two creative contests:

Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge

This contest invites students to produce an original video describing what they can do in their communities to help make teenagers safer drivers. The top ten videos will be selected by a panel of experts for their originality and compelling content, after which an online public voting period will determine the winner. Multiple winners will receive large cash prizes, and Discovery Channel film crews will visit the top three students’ hometowns to hear their stories and capture their visions for safer driving for pieces that will air on the Toyota Teen Driver and Discovery websites. The contest is open to students in grades 9-12.

Toyota Teen Driver Educators’ Challenge

For this contest, teachers are asked to create innovative and motivating plans for keeping students safe on the roads. The grand prize winner will receive a big cash prize along with trip to Washington, D.C., to attend a safe-driving conference. In addition, the winning teacher’s school will be awarded a Virtual Driver Interactive simulator and a safe-driving assembly, led by Toyota Teen Driver experts. A second place winner will also receive a driving simulator and school safe-driving assembly, as well as a cash prize.

I applaud these terrific programs. Safer teen drivers mean safer roads, not only for them, but for everyone. If you know any creative teens or teachers, let them know about the challenge! The deadline for both contests is February 14, 2013. For more information you can follow my links above.

Wishing you safe roads and happy travels,

Tracy