NEW YORK, May 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- One of the most important events in a teenager's life is obtaining a driver's license. But while young drivers account for just 6.3 percent of licensed drivers, they account for 13.6 percent of all fatal crashes.
In an effort to improve those odds, Toyota announced today it is moving forward with a new national program to promote safe driving among teens called Toyota Driving Expectations. This unique program is designed to teach teens and parents alike about defensive driving techniques against a backdrop of real world scenarios.
"Toyota is committed to providing teens with the tools they need to be better prepared on the road and to become better drivers," said Michael Rouse, Toyota's corporate manager of national philanthropy and community affairs. "Toyota Driving Expectations has been developed after several successful pilots and with valuable feedback from teens, parents and the National Safety Council. We feel so strongly about the program that we're currently offering it free-of-charge."
The National Safety Council has been involved with the Toyota program since its pilot in 2004 and has provided input on curriculum development. The program includes elements of the Council's signature driving programs including the Defensive Driving Course, Alive at 25 and Family Guide to Teen Drivers.
A unique aspect of Toyota Driving Expectations is that a parent or guardian must accompany the teen driver to the four-hour program. Parents and teens are split into separate groups for part of the course, allowing parents to learn about vehicle safety technology, defensive driving and how to design and set realistic expectations for their teen. The program concludes with teens and parents reuniting to develop a safe driving contract to be put into practice when the families return home.
"Toyota Driving Expectations provides teens with important skill development opportunities while providing parents with the knowledge and tools to keep their teens safe," said John Ulczycki, director of the Transportation Safety Group of the National Safety Council. "Teens will develop specific driving skills and a better understanding of how to deal with peer issues and situations that can affect their driving and lead to crashes. Parents will learn about the risks associated with teen drivers, how to better manage those risks and how to be an effective coach for their teen driver."
Toyota Driving Expectations also goes beyond what is currently taught in typical driver training classes in order to help teens identify and react to dangerous driving situations. To better understand the critical relationship between distractions and reaction time, teens and parents navigate a driving course while drinking water, listening to loud music and talking on a cell phone. They also experience hard braking maneuvers on wet and dry pavement and maneuver through multiple slalom driving courses under the watchful eyes of professional drivers.
"Toyota has a long history of commitment to vehicle safety through product development and testing," Rouse said. "However, the best safety device is an educated driver. This program allows Toyota to move beyond vehicle technology and offer teens, the knowledge and experience necessary to be safer drivers."
Toyota Driving Expectations is a free program and is being offered in the following cities in 2006:
- Tampa, Fla., 6/2 - 6/4
- Washington, D.C., 6/9 - 6/11
- Cincinnati, Ohio, 10/6- 10/8
- Kansas City, Mo., 10/13 - 10/15
- Orange County, Calif., 10/20 -10/22
For more information or to sign-up for the program in your city, please visit http://www.toyotadrivingexpectations.com/.
About Toyota
Toyota established operations in North America in 1957 and will operate 15 manufacturing plants in North America by 2008. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sell more than 2.5 million vehicles a year. Toyota directly employs over 38,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $16.8 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $26 billion. According to a 2005 Center for Automotive Research study, Toyota, along with its dealers and suppliers, has generated nearly 400,000 U.S. jobs, including jobs created through spending by direct, dealer and suppliers employees. The company's main Web site is http://www.toyota.com/.
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