Traffic crashes are the leading killer of teens in this country. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data, each year more than 5,000 teens aged 16-20 are killed in car crashes. National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) believes effective youth prevention programs are teen-led and teen-informed. The NOYS Coalition acknowledges the need to convene, train, and empower youth leaders to address the issue of highway safety.

NOYS is hosting the third annual Teen Distracted Driving Prevention Summit in Washington, DC on December 3rd. Over 100 youth from all around the United States will attend. These teams will develop, implement, and support year-long distracted driving prevention efforts in their states and host a Teen Distracted Driving Prevention event in their local community. These summits were started through the work of U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He has done great work to raise awareness of this issue, encourage enforcement, and include teens in the development of outreach to young drivers.

NOYS youth developed a guide for communities to use when addressing distracted driving with youth. It is at the core belief of our youth leaders that we should not do anything about them without them. To help communities know how to reach young people and engage them in their outreach efforts, the youth developed and wrote the Community Engagement Guide. This effort was evaluated by George Mason University and includes their summary within the Guide. NOYS has also worked with AT&T to promote their documentary The Last Text. A viewers guide was developed to capture pre and post response and to help communities use this resource.