Established in 2003 by Ford, the Governors Highway Safety Association and a panel of safety experts, Driving Skills for Life is a program that helps youngsters develop the skills necessary for safe driving, beyond what they learn in standard driver education programs. This program earned Ford the 2007 Traffic Safety Achievement Award for Community Service from the World Traffic Safety Symposium.
Vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of teenagers in America. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly 7,000 teens die annually in automobile crashes in the United States. Studies demonstrate that crash rates decline considerably as young drivers gain experience. Driving Skills for Life helps young drivers improve their skills in four key areas that are factors in more than 60 percent of teen vehicle crashes: hazard recognition, vehicle handling, space management and speed management.
Driving Skills for Life provides outstanding learning tools, including a DVD, printed materials and a newly redesigned Web site that features stunning graphics, upbeat music and interactive features (such as simulation games) that help young drivers improve their ability behind the wheel. The Web site – re-launched in May 2006 – includes a points system whereby visitors can register and earn prizes (such as laptops, MP3 players and music downloads) for repeat visits. The content was also upgraded in 2006 with information about eco-driving, car care tips and information for mature drivers. Between May and December, more than 2,500 individuals registered at the Web site, which experienced a total of more than 136,000 logins and 2.3 million page views.
Driving Skills for Life also reached up to 90,000 individuals through in-person events in 2006, including a four-day Summer Camp for new drivers, a ride-and-drive event for teens near Orlando, and displays and presentations at 14 conferences or other events.
At the Summer Camp, 700 teens and parents from 123 cities took part in in-depth classroom instruction and behind-the-wheel training at Ford's Michigan Proving Ground in August. The Summer Camp was free to all participants, and included a special "parents-only" session attended by 100 parents.
The Orlando Ride and Drive event, held in March, came about at the request of a local Parent Student Teacher Association, after the deaths of five students from one high school in automobile crashes. During the event, 300 teens participated in driver training activities – a 26 percent increase in participation over all of the 2005 ride-and-drive events combined. A participant survey showed that 89 percent were very satisfied with the experience, and students' confidence levels in their driving skills rose significantly.
Finally, 2006 also saw the release of a 30-minute documentary on Driving Skills for Life, which was made available to public television stations, including PBS, via satellite.
Driving Skills for life opened its 2007 season in January with a ride-and-drive event in Sacramento, at which 300 students honed their driving skills on challenging driving courses under the supervision of a team of professional instructors. In February 2007, Ford partnered with KDKA-TV (the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh) and Westfield Insurance to announce a new partnership to assist young drivers in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania called Taking the Lead, based on Driving Skills for Life. Furthermore, a Driving Skills for Life program was launched in Tazewell County, Illinois, in March. Tazewell County has lost 15 teens in car crashes in just over a year, and the Driving Skills for Life "Operation Teen Safe Driving" program is designed to be an intensive two-month immersion into teen safe-driving issues.
