Reaching teen drivers' parents with an effective intervention to reduce teens' risky driving: Outcomes of translation research

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of teen fatalities, and a major cause of teen injuries. Evidence-based interventions to reduce crashes include primarily Graduated Driver Licensing and CheckpointsTM, a parent-directed program that encourages monitoring teens' driving using a parent-teen driving agreement (PTDA). Several studies used different methods to engage parents in implementing this proven program. 1) Adapted for delivery as a brief group intervention to parents/teens in driver education by health educators, CheckpointsTM was effective, increasing awareness of teen driving risk, PTDA use, and restrictions on high risk driving, but only 30% of parents participated. 2) Driver educators were trained to deliver CheckpointsTM, with enhanced results, but still only 35% of parents attended. 3) An interactive Michigan website was developed, community partners engaged, and promotion was phased: a) partner website links; b) adding active partner promotion and earned media; c) adding paid media, yielding 15,278 visits averaging 1:38 minutes, 2.38 pages/visit with 66.3% only viewing the homepage. 413 visitors (3% of new) registered using the interactive PTDA. 4) With American Academy of Pediatrics' collaboration, a national website was developed and promoted by pediatricians to parents. To date, 70 practitioners promoted the website to 2,395 parents, yielding 1,323 visits, averaging 4:16 minutes, 4.59 pages/visit with 43.5% only viewing the homepage. 112 visitors (12.3% of new) registered using the interactive PTDA. Reaching/engaging parents is challenging, although different methods are effective. Personal connections (driver educator or pediatrician) are more effective. Policies requiring parent engagement/meetings may help and CheckpointsTM is effective and ready-to-use.