Watch the KKTV News Story
Teens are more at-risk to get into car crashes than adults because they are new drivers. On Thursday, DRIVE SMART COLORADO, held a kick-off breakfast to launch their program's 26th year. It's aimed to teach kids safe driving.
The program is called "High School Traffic Safety Challenge" and it's meant to be a peer-led six-week course for high school students in our area. This year, 34 high schools from El Paso and Teller Counties signed up.
Lt. Scott Schwall with the Colorado Springs Police Department said the course can be very informative. He said many high schools don't offer a driver's training course anymore.
"They educate the students about the dangerous of drinking and driving, the dangers of texting a driving. As we know, teens are at a higher risk with being involved with accidents because they are new drivers," said Schwall.
DRIVE SMART COLORADO says that when teens wear seatbelts, they are about 50% to 75% less likely to get injured in a car crash. They also said, the number of teens using cell phones while driving went down 6% last year after the course.
The kick-off breakfast, Thursday, was a way for teens from several high schools to learn about resources available to them to create the challenge.
Colorado's young driver safety news and information site.
