After 35 years of service with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) — nearly 30 of that in a management position — Russell Henk resigned as program manager of the Youth Transportation Safety (YTS) Program effective June 30. “Creating the Teens in the Driver Seat® Program and leading the YTS team for the past 20 […]
Russell Henk
TTI’s Youth Transportation Safety Program Awarded Two-Year Grant from Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad has awarded the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Youth Transportation Safety (YTS) Program a two-year grant to continue funding transportation safety initiatives tailored to educating young people. The grant serves as an extension of a three-year partnership between YTS and Union Pacific and will contribute tremendously to the expansion of programs and […]
Does Your Teen Text While Driving? Now There’s An App For That.
By Russell Henk What we’re learning about the battle against the coronavirus could go a long way in helping us thwart vehicle crashes. It’s a simple lesson: Prevention – in the form of personal responsibility – can help us contain the public health crisis of COVID-19, and it can do the same with the epidemic […]
TTI’s Teens in the Driver Seat® Launches New App to Encourage Safety in Young Drivers
Car crashes account for nearly one-third of all teen deaths in America each year. As a part of National Teen Driver Safety Week Oct. 18–24, teen advocates of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Teens in the Driver Seat® (TDS) program launched its You in the Driver Seat (YDS) smartphone app, aimed at encouraging safer […]
College Students, Traffic Safety Professionals Attend Virtual 2020 U in the Driver Seat Symposium
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) U in the Driver Seat (UDS) education and outreach program held its virtual 2020 UDS Symposium Oct. 7–9. Now in its eighth year, the symposium raises awareness about the leading cause of death for young adults ages 18–25 — traffic crashes. This year’s theme was “recharge to save lives […]
Now’s the Time to Teach Your Teen to Drive
The Silver Lining in the COVID-19 Cloud The entire world is practicing social distancing, and some of us are under shelter-in-place orders. You might find you have some extra time on your hands. If you’re a parent with a teen at home, you might find yourself even growing a bit antsy for something to do […]
General Motors Funds Expansion of Landmark Teen Driving Safety Program to America’s Heartland
As part of National Teen Driving Safety Week, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Teens in the Driver Seat® (TDS) Program is announcing that a generous grant from General Motors (GM) will help TDS reach even more teen drivers with its safety messaging next year. These funds will support ongoing outreach efforts in Texas, where TDS […]
Statewide Symposium Empowers College-Aged Youth to End Preventable Car Crashes
Car crashes remain the leading cause of injury and death for young persons under the age of 25. Two of the leading causes of these crashes that involve young drivers in Texas are distracted driving and impaired driving (under the influence of alcohol or drugs). The U in the Driver Seat (UDS) peer-to-peer program continues […]
As Cars Get Better, Driving Gets Worse
By Russell Henk Our cars keep getting better, but our driving seems to be getting worse. Auto design has evolved from safety belts and airbags that help us survive crashes to features like lane-departure warnings and automatic emergency braking that help us avoid them. Still, the rate of distracted driving deaths rose twice as fast […]
Teens in the Driver Seat® Launches Teen Driver App to Curb Distracted Driving Among Teen Drivers
On October 18, 2016, as part of National Teen Driver Safety Week (October 16-22), teen advocates of Teens in the Driver Seat® (TDS) and program staff launched Teen Driver, a new smartphone app created by MobiSoft Infotech, LLC. The launch was held at Creekview High School and highlighted the app’s functionality, as well as TDS’s […]
Teens in the Driver Seat® Hosts Annual Summit to Celebrate, Educate Student Advocates of Teen Driving Safety
Nearly 200 student leaders from Texas and around the nation attended the annual Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) Summit held May 15-17, 2016, at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. TDS, a peer-to-peer teen driver safety program, brought together a variety of teen traffic safety experts and interactive safety exhibits, as well as […]
Henk Receives NSC’s 2015 Teen Driving Safety Leadership Award
The National Safety Council (NSC) recently awarded Russell Henk, program manager for TTI’s Youth Transportation Safety Program, the organization’s 2015 Teen Driving Safety Leadership Award. Henk won the award for his “long-term commitment to reducing teen crashes through developing, nurturing and growing” Teens in the Driver Seat® (TDS), the program Henk founded more than a […]
U in the Driver Seat Holds Symposium at UT-Arlington
The U in the Driver Seat® (UDS) program is holding its Peer-to-Peer Impaired Driving Prevention Symposium at The University of Texas at Arlington April 24-25, and it couldn’t be better timed. Statewide statistics from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) indicate that crash-related deaths involving drivers 18-24 years old driving under the influence of drugs […]
Teens in the Driver Seat Featured on KBTX News
Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Senior Research Engineer and Program Manager of Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) Russell Henk was recently featured on KBTX news explaining the mission of the program. TDS launched to try to bring down the top cause of death for young people in the country. In fact, teens are eight times […]
Event Aims to Educate College-age Students on Preventing Impaired Driving
The U in the Driver Seat program and Texas Department of Transportation teamed up on March 28 and 29 for the inaugural Peer-to-Peer Impaired Driving Prevention Symposium at Texas State University. The event aimed to educate college-aged students about the impaired driving problem and introduce peer-driven efforts that can be used at colleges and universities […]
Fatal Crash Risk For Teens With Passengers Rising, Even as Traffic Deaths Show 10-Year Decline
New research suggests that novice teenage drivers (age 15-17) are about eight times more likely than young adult drivers (age 18-24) to have a fatal crash if teenage passengers are in the motor vehicle. Moreover, that teen passenger risk has grown greater over the past decade, even as total numbers of crash deaths have dropped […]