Teens in the Driver Seat, a Texas-based outreach program, is the nation’s first peer-to-peer driving safety program run by teens for teens. The program is based on the idea that teens will pay more attention to ideas that are presented by their peers than to those that come from adults. The peer-to-peer traffic safety campaign empowers high school students to create methods of outreach to their peers. The outreach campaign targets the most common risk factors for teen drivers, with greater emphasis on rural safety issues such as the dangers of talking/texting on a cell phone, driving at high speeds and not wearing a safety belt. The campaign uses delivery methods such as videos, pamphlets, flyers, and social media. The program has shown early success in improving awareness of the most dangerous risk factors for novice drivers.

The Montana Department of Transportation was interested in evaluating the TDS program for possible implementation in Montana. This research project built upon the effective outreach effort in Texas. The project implemented a peer-to-peer driver’s safety program in Montana to determine if Montana may produce similar safety benefits as those in Texas. The research used a case–control experimental design across four Montana high schools that included one case and one control school in an urban setting (Bozeman and Helena) and another case and control school from a rural setting (Manhattan and Big Timber).