Skills-Based eLearning Program for Teen Drivers to Prevent Impaired and Distracted Driving

While teens may learn about the presence of these issues, research-based prevention materials that effectively teach skills to prevent impaired and distracted driving are few.

The Plan My Ride program is an innovative online eLearning program that teaches key skills to avoid impaired and distracted driving and includes immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences to practice new skills in realistic scenarios. Plan My Ride was developed for high school and college age drivers. The program is informed by the Integrated Behavioral Model and focuses on changing attitudes such as the perceived dangerousness and outcome expectancies of impaired/distracted driving, perceived social norms, and self-efficacy to find alternatives to impaired/distracted driving, as well as the skills to identify and implement these alternatives. Microlearning booster content was developed to reinforce the program content and help users develop safe driving habits. In addition, to promote effective implementation of the program, group leader implementation resources were also developed.  

The usability of the virtual reality video experience was tested and the impact of the Plan My Ride program was evaluated in an immediate post-test and three-month follow-up.