The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has presented TTI’s Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) with its National President’s Safety Award. The honor was given to TDS team members representing TxDOT and TTI at AASHTO’s Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 28.
“This national recognition will go a long way in ensuring the continuing success of Teens in the Driver Seat,” said TDS Program Director Russell Henk. “It has been an honor and privilege to lead our team in the effort to save the lives of teenagers. This AASHTO award is the result of a lot of hard work from a lot of people in TTI representing a wide range of disciplines.”
TDS is a peer-to-peer education program aimed at alerting teens to the preventable causes of car crashes, the number one killer of teenagers. Local TDS programs are organized and operated by the teenagers themselves at their individual high schools. Studies have shown that teens will be more influenced by their peers, than by their parents.
The TDS program is now being deployed in more than half of TxDOT’s 25 districts at nearly 60 individual high schools. Dozens of other schools will initiate programs this school year. The latest schools that joined the TDS effort are in the Austin, El Paso, Lubbock and Tyler areas.