The figures say it all: although teen drivers only account for 6.3 percent of all licensed drivers on the U.S. today, they are involved in 13.6 percent of all fatal crashes. In view of this scenario, Toyota launched its new national program called ‘Toyota Driving Expectations’, an initiative to promote safe driving among teens. The objective of this program is to teach both teens and parents about defensive driving techniques not through lectures but by immersion into real-world scenarios.

What’s great about this program is that both the teens and their parents can learn a lot from the four-hour program. Parents will be taught about vehicle safety technology, defensive driving, and how to design and set realistic expectations for their teen. They will also learn about the risks that teen drivers are very vulnerable to, how to manage those risks and be a better coach to their teens. Meanwhile, teens will learn important driving skills as well as how to deal with peer issues and situations that can affect their driving and lead to disastrous consequences.

This program will also incorporate some of the elements from the driving programs of the National Safety Council such as the Defensive Driving Course, Alive at 25 and Family Guide to Teen Drivers. Real-world scenarios are used to help teens and parents learn. For example, for the them to understand the critical relationship between distractions and reaction time, the teens and parents are told to navigate a driving course while drinking water, listening to loud music and talking on a cell phone. Hard braking maneuvers on both wet and dry pavement will also be taught on multiple slalom driving courses monitored by professional drivers.

“Toyota has a long history of commitment to vehicle safety through product development and testing,” said Michael Rouse, Toyota’s corporate manager of national philanthropy and community affairs. “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.”

The Toyota Driving Expectations is a free program and will be offered in the following cities within the year. You can look up more information and sign up for the program by visiting the Toyota Driving Expectations website here.

Tampa, FL -June 2 to June 4
Washington, D.C. – June 9 to June 11
Cincinnati, OH – October 6 to October 8
Kansas City, MO – October 13 to October 15
Orange County, CA – October 20 to October 22

From: The Auto Channel