Oregon

Putting a Dent in Teen Auto Accidents

August 2011 - As long as auto accidents remain the leading cause of death for teenagers State Farm Insurance will be committed to auto safety for teens. Here in Oregon, State Farm works to curb this sad statistic by donating over $75,000 a year to local safe driving partners and programs. Below are a few examples of how local organizations partner with State Farm to save the lives of teen drivers.

ACTS Oregon, The Alliance for Community Traffic Safety: The mission of ACTS Oregon is to reduce fatalities, injuries, and the severity of injuries resulting from vehicle crashes throughout the state. Their vision is “to motivate individuals and communities throughout Oregon to solve their traffic safety problems by providing resources, technical training and education.” Through a partnership with ACTS, State Farm helps provide valuable safety training materials for teens, their parents and public safety organizations.

Oregon Impact is another organization State Farm supports in the effort to keep teens safe on the road. Oregon Impact provides community education, prevention and awareness activities to stop individuals from driving impaired. With an emphasis on teen drivers and those that ride with them, Oregon Impact takes its message to over 10,000 area teenagers at high schools, colleges and community events each year. State Farm has supported Oregon Impact’s efforts by helping fund the mobile crash car exhibit, creating PSA’s for National Teen Driver Safety Week and delivering impaired driving programs to area high schools.

State Farm’s partnership with Safe Kids Oregon focuses on teaching pre-drivers safe driving behaviors. Their Countdown 2 Drive program encourages pre-drivers and their parents to begin discussions about rules, rewards and consequences for safe driving behavior. The program is designed to expose all issues that are important to both the parent and teen. Teens with involved parents are twice as likely to wear seat belts, are half as likely to speed and are 30% less likely to use a cell phone while driving (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 2009).

In addition to these partnerships State Farm has conducted a teen driver safety contest titled Shift Into Safety for the past five years. This contest allowed Oregon teens to compete for grants to fund peer to peer safe driving programs in their high schools. Since 2006, State Farm has donated over $125,000 directly to local high schools for safe driving initiatives. Shift Into Safety is taking a hiatus in 2012 but the company will be unveiling a new safe driving program for teens in the very near future. Be sure to check back for more information.