Improving teenage driver perceptions regarding the impact of distracted driving in the Pacific Northwest

The goal of this educational outreach project was to examine perceptions of driver distraction among teenagers in the Pacific Northwest. Specifically, to identify secondary tasks this group may consider distracting and determine their self-reported engagement in those same secondary tasks while driving. An interactive presentation was developed and administered to 1,400 teenage drivers. Teenagers from age 14 to 18 years were recruited from high schools in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon with an approximately equal sample in each State. Of these participants, 1,006 teenage drivers responded to a pre- and postknowledge survey administered immediately before and 2 weeks after the interactive presentation. The purpose of the survey was to measure the degree to which the interactive presentation improved teenage driver perspectives regarding the hazards of distracted driving. Results indicated that the interactive presentation positively influenced teenage driver perspectives, meaning that after the interactive presentation, teenage drivers were more likely to correctly identify different types of distracted driving.