October 15, 2024, Durham, NC – iRT is excited to announce that the Plan My Ride program has received an Award of Excellence from Brandon Hall Group for its use of interactive features that provide accessibility for young people with disabilities.
Plan My Ride is an eLearning course that can be delivered remotely or in conjunction with an in-person, instructor-led class with the ultimate goal of improving new drivers’ attitudes and perceived norms about impaired driving, self-efficacy to avoid distracted or impaired driving, and intentions to drive safely. Young people who participate in the Plan My Ride program complete interactive learning activities, videos, animations, self-reflections, and review activities, so they can learn important planning, communication, and social skills to avoid driving distracted or impaired. Then, learners participate in two immersive, 360-degree, role-play scenarios to practice making decisions to avoid impaired driving and to apply skills they have learned in a safe, realistic, virtual environment. The course goes beyond educating teens and young adults about the dangers of distracted and drug- or alcohol- impaired driving to include other conditions where drivers may be distracted such as using a cell phone while driving.
Plan My Ride received a bronze HCM Excellence Award® for Accessible, Interactive eLearning for Teen Drivers in the category of Best Use of Section 508 Requirements for Training Platforms. To receive this award, Plan My Ride underwent a rigorous evaluation process which examined the program’s elements that meet Section 508 requirements. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 establishes standards to ensure that information technology is usable and accessible for users with disabilities.
Plan My Ride received this award because, unlike most safe driving training programs, it not only caters to the interests of teens and young adults but also meets the unique needs of individuals with developmental disabilities or sensory, physical, or cognitive impairments. The program aligns Section 508 standards as well as Level AA standards of the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.
iRT developed Plan My Ride in collaboration with D3 Training Solutions, LLC and ELB Learning to deliver innovative, accessible content for users. As a result, the program offers clear navigation, simple language, smooth use of audio control, and organized content. Plan My Ride utilizes alt text, closed captioning, high color contrast, legible fonts, semantic HTML tags, focus indicators, and more to meet users where they are. The program is compatible with screen readers and can be easily operated using keyboard shortcuts. The team tested the program with accessibility testers to maximize usability and accessibility of the program for users.
Plan My Ride has also been recognized by Learning Excellence Awards and LearnX® for its innovative features and accessibility. The program received a 2023 Diamond Award from LearnX® for Best Accessibility and a 2024 Learning Excellence Award in the Design, Content Creation, and Video category.
To learn more about Plan My Ride or to begin offering the program to young drivers, visit https://planmyride.net/ for more information.