March 13, 2025, Durham, NC – iRT is dedicated to preventing distracted and impaired driving and helping drivers, prevention professionals, and community members protect themselves and others on the road. Plan My Ride is iRT’s interactive, multimedia, eLearning program developed with and for young drivers to teach safe driving skills to prevent distracted and impaired driving. Unlike many other safe driving educational programs, Plan My Ride uses a science-backed and theory-driven approach to change behavior by teaching concrete, practical strategies to avoid impaired and distracted driving, and providing opportunities for young drivers to practice the skills they have learned in 360-degree virtual scenarios. The program is accessible on mobile devices and computers to meet teens where they are.

This is the eleventh article in a series of articles describing how each lesson, 360-degree virtual reality scenario, and booster lesson of the Plan My Ride program was strategically designed to help young drivers learn important information and strategies to prevent distracted and impaired driving.

Plan My Ride’s Booster Lessons

Plan My Ride contains a series of four brief “booster” lessons that young drivers complete at two, four, six, and eight weeks after they complete the main lessons and virtual reality scenarios in the program. The purpose of these mini follow-up or “booster” lessons is to reinforce the key skills learned in the program, through exposure to short web-based modules. Each booster lesson takes approximately five minutes to complete and is designed to be usable on mobile devices so that they would be convenient enough for young drivers to feel motivated to complete.

At the beginning of each booster lesson, drivers participate in a mindfulness activity to reflect on their current mood and emotional state before diving into the booster content. In addition to boosting learner engagement, when practiced regularly, mindfulness skills can help young drivers become more aware of their thoughts and feelings before getting behind the wheel, which can help drivers avoid distracted driving. Then, young drivers interact with more booster activities and videos to receive tailored feedback designed to increase their self-efficacy to perform safe driving behaviors.

2-Week Booster: Just Drive

The first booster lesson reinforces skills to avoid driving while distracted by a cellphone. To increase self-efficacy to avoid cellphone use while driving, young drivers select a strategy for avoiding distracted driving that they have the most difficult time performing and are given feedback with a specific recommendation to help them perform that strategy in the future. The booster lesson appeals to young drivers’ emotions by reinforcing the danger of driving while distracted.

4-Week Booster: Avoid Alcohol and Drugs

The second booster lesson focuses on reviewing and practicing strategies to avoid driving while impaired by substances. The lesson increases self-efficacy to use skills to avoid using substances through a scenario-based activity where young drivers practice using the different refusal skills. The booster lesson also encourages young drivers to find healthy ways to cope with negative emotions that do not involve alcohol and drugs to avoid substance-impaired driving.

6-Week Booster: Planning for Safe Driving

The third booster lesson reinforces knowledge and skills to plan an alternate ride to avoid driving impaired. This lesson contains an animation where the characters use different methods to get home safely, including avoiding consuming substances, asking for a ride, and staying where they are.

8-Week Booster: You’ve Planned Your Ride

The fourth booster summarizes all content from the Plan My Ride program. To increase perceived consequences of and review skills to avoid unsafe driving behavior, the booster lesson reiterates the importance of utilizing the Plan My Ride strategies to reduce the risk of a crash. The lesson also reminds young drivers of the negative consequences of substance use on the brain and body. To increase perceived sense of control, the lesson reminds young drivers of the strategies they can use to avoid speeding, increase seatbelt use, avoid driving while impaired or distracted, and avoid riding with an impaired or distracted driver.

If you are interested in offering the Plan My Ride program to young drivers to prevent impaired and distracted driving, visit https://planmyride.net/ to learn more and get started.