Abstract
Background
The Checkpoints program (Checkpoints) uses a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement (PTDA)
to help parents monitor teens' driving, and has shown efficacy in increasing parental
restrictions on teens' driving and decreasing teens' risky driving. In previous trials,
research staff administered Checkpoints. This study examined the effectiveness of
Checkpoints when delivered by driver educators. It was hypothesized that Checkpoints
would result in more PTDA use, greater PTDA limits on higher risk driving situations,
and less high-risk driving.
Methods
Eight trained driving instructors were randomly assigned to intervention or control
groups in a group randomized trial. Instructors enrolled 148 parent-teen dyads (intervention =
99, control = 49); 35% of those eligible. Intervention parents joined teens for a
30-minute Checkpoints session during driver education. The session included a video,
persuasive messages, discussion, and PTDA initiation. Teens completed four surveys:
baseline, licensure, and 3- and 6-months post-licensure.
Results
Intervention teens were more likely to report that they used a PTDA (OR= 15.92, p = .004) and had restrictions on driving with teen passengers (OR = 8.52, p = .009), on weekend nights (OR = 8.71, p = .021), on high-speed roads (OR = 3.56, p = .02), and in bad weather (b = .51, p = .05) during the first six months of licensure. There were no differences in offenses
or crashes at six months, but intervention teens reported less high-risk driving (p = .04).
Conclusions
Although challenges remain to encourage greater parent participation, Checkpoints
conducted by driver education instructors resulted in more use of PTDAs, greater restrictions
on high-risk driving, and less high-risk driving. Including Checkpoints in driver
education parent meetings/classes has potential to enhance teen driver safety.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Adolescent HealthAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Traffic Safety Facts 2009 Data: Young Drivers, DOT HS 811 400. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, DC2011
- Teenage drivers: Patterns of risk.J Safety Res. 2003; 34: 5-15
- Changes in collision rates among novice drivers during the first months of driving.Accid Anal Prev. 2003; 35: 683-691
- Carrying passengers as a risk factor for crashes fatal to 16- and 17-year old drivers.JAMA. 2000; 283: 1578-1582
- Using the U.S. National Household Travel Survey to estimate the impact of passenger characteristics on young drivers' relative risk of fatal crash involvement.Accid Anal Prev. 2010; 42: 689-694
- Passenger effects on teenage driving and opportunities for reducing the risks of such travel.J Safety Res. 2007; 38: 381-390
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Young driver licensing systems in the U.S.: October 2011. Highway Safety Research and Communications. Available at: www.iihs.org.
- Cognitive and physiological processes in fear appeals and attitude change: A revised theory of protection motivation.in: Cacioppo J.T. Petty R.E. Social Psychophysiology. Guilford, New York1983: 153-176
- Increasing parent limits on novice young drivers: Cognitive mediation of the effect of persuasive messages.J Adolesc Res. 2006; 21: 83-105
- Increased parent limits on teen driving: Positive effects from a brief intervention administered at the Motor Vehicle Administration.Prev Sci. 2004; 5: 101-111
- Do recommended driving limits affect teen-reported traffic violations and crashes during the first 12 months of independent driving?.Traffic Inj Prev. 2006; 7: 238-247
- The effect on teen driving outcomes of the Checkpoints™ Program in a statewide trial.Accid Anal Prev. 2006; 38: 907-912
- Application of the authoritative parenting model to adolescent health behavior.in: DiClemente R. Crosby R. Kegler M. Emerging Theories in Health Promotion Practice and Research. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco2002: 100-125
- Efficacy of a brief group parent-teen intervention in driver education to reduce teenage driver injury risk: A pilot study.Fam Community Health. 2009; 32: 175-188
- The effect on teenage risky driving of feedback from a safety monitoring system: A randomized controlled trial.J Adolesc Health. 2013;
Simons-Morton BG, Ehsani J, Pradhan A, et al. Validity of the C-RDS Risky Driving Scale. Driving Assessment. Under review.
- Do elevated gravitational-force events while driving predict crashes and near crashes?.Am J Epidemiol. 2012; 175: 1075-1079
- Murray D.M. Design and Analysis of Group-randomized Trials. Oxford University Press Inc, New York1998
- SAS/STAT® 9.1 User's Guide. SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC2004
- Design and analysis of group-randomized trials: A review of recent methodological developments.Am J Public Health. 2004; 94: 423-429
- Persistence of effects of the Checkpoints program on parental restrictions of teen driving privileges.Am J Public Health. 2005; 95: 447-452
- Parent involvement in novice teen driving: Rationale, evidence of effects, and potential for enhancing graduated driver licensing effectiveness.J Safety Res. 2007; 38: 193-202
Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 07, 2013
Accepted:
December 21,
2012
Received:
June 25,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
