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When Peer Pressure Is a Good Thing: Messaging, Behavior Modification and Young Driver Safety · Thinking Transportation: Engaging Conversations about Transportation Innovations

0:15
Allan Rutter: Howdy everyone.
0:16
Allan Rutter: Welcome to Thinking Transportation, conversations about how we get ourselves and the stuff we need from one place to another.
0:23
Allan Rutter: I'm Allan Rutter with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
0:28
Allan Rutter: Younger drivers face a lot of challenges today.
0:31
Allan Rutter: Many are waiting longer to get their driver's licenses so that they have less time to develop on-the-road experience.
0:38
Allan Rutter: The siren song of their smartphones can distract them, and they could be impaired by substances or from a lack of sleep.
0:46
Allan Rutter: The good news is that research shows that equipped with good information on driving safety, teens can effectively communicate with each other, encouraging safer driver behavior.
0:58
Allan Rutter: Today, we're going to be learning about how TTI is powering peer-to-peer teen driving safety education.
1:06
Allan Rutter: So, today I have the pleasure of talking with two of my TTI colleagues who specialize in youth transportation safety.
1:13
Allan Rutter: I'm joined by Lisa Minjares-Kyle, who is Youth Transportation Safety Program Manager in TTI's Center for Transportation Safety; and by Stacey Tisdale, who is Assistant Program Manager with Lisa in the Youth Transportation Safety Program.
1:30
Allan Rutter: Lisa and Stacey, welcome to Thinking Transportation.
1:35
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Excited to be hear.
1:35
Stacey Tisdale: Thank you for the invitation. This is great.
1:40
Allan Rutter: So one of the very cool things about working at TTI is the chance to work with so many smart people with interesting backgrounds.
1:47
Allan Rutter: Can you two explain how your journey brought you to transportation and to TTI?
1:55
Stacey Tisdale: Hey everyone, this is Stacey.
1:56
Stacey Tisdale: So 15 years ago, I was in the private sector and looking for new opportunities.
2:01
Stacey Tisdale: So I joined Teens in the Driver's Seat as, actually, a web developer.
2:06
Stacey Tisdale: And as many listeners understand, projects that needed attention just kept popping up.
2:11
Stacey Tisdale: So I always loved a great, you know, new project that I can really dive into.
2:16
Stacey Tisdale: So one thing led to another, including more education, some certifications, and here I am.
2:23
Allan Rutter: So you came by the web version.
2:27
Stacey Tisdale: I did.
2:27
Stacey Tisdale: And you know, I really don't work in that space anymore.
2:33
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Well, this is Lisa, and my journey is a little different.
2:37
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: I started in the traffic safety space as an undergraduate under the Alcohol and Drug Education Center, and an expert worked there, and he fortunately gave me the opportunity to come with him to TTI when I graduated.
2:51
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And I'm glad I jumped on that opportunity because I really never left.
2:56
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: I've been here ever since.
2:57
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: I will say, though, that my mother was a bus driver and still is.
3:01
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And so transportation has always been near and dear to my heart.
3:05
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: I did have to admit to her about five years into my professional career that she was right about pretty much everything.
3:11
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And that really hurt me to say that out loud.
3:14
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And now I'm officially recording this.
3:16
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: But I really think the biggest piece that kept me here is that I discovered that I was a road safety nerd.
3:22
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And I love learning about all elements of road safety and then teaching it to others.
3:28
Allan Rutter: That is so cool.
3:29
Allan Rutter: So now much of what you guys do in the Youth Transportation Safety Program, or here on out, I'm going to refer to this as YTS, is the kind of work you guys do in peer-to-peer training.
3:42
Allan Rutter: Tell our listeners a little bit about what we know about the effect of peer-to-peer training in adult and youth environments, and then how the YTS program is designed to maximize the effectiveness of peer-to-peer training.
3:57
Stacey Tisdale: So you're right.
3:58
Stacey Tisdale: We know that peer-to-peer is the most effective for youth, but we also focus on tools we are putting into the program and how these two things combined influence the third factor, which is driving behavior intentions.
4:13
Stacey Tisdale: So naturally, teens turn to their friends for information, but when you put better information into the hands of those teens so they can help educate, this dynamic feels more equal and the messages really resonate.
4:28
Stacey Tisdale: So it's been shown that peer-led learning often works even better than adult-led approaches and reflects an important developmental shift toward independence and connection.
4:40
Stacey Tisdale: So this is a lot different than adults who are more passive recipients of peer influence, and it's really quite interesting within that stage of their life.
4:51
Stacey Tisdale: But our work is not only about peer-to-peer, Allan.
4:54
Stacey Tisdale: We really want to make sure the resources we put into their hands are great teaching tools.
4:59
Stacey Tisdale: They're fun, they're interactive, they're educational.
5:02
Stacey Tisdale: This leads to better retention and likelihood.
5:05
Stacey Tisdale: They will share what they learned with someone else, their peers, and even sometimes not their peers.
5:12
Stacey Tisdale: So finally, program resources are also built on the theory of planned behavior, which Lisa really championed into the program.
5:20
Stacey Tisdale: And just to give a real quick one-sentence explanation for those that may not be familiar, this theory originally advanced the idea that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control predicts the likelihood an individual will do something.
5:38
Stacey Tisdale: But just to close this idea out, in later studies, which involved driving behaviors, it was found that moral constructs, habits, and emotional influences also impact these intentions.
5:53
Stacey Tisdale: So in our world, you know, we can put all the materials we want to into the hands of teens, but we have to ask, will it result in changed behaviors?
6:04
Stacey Tisdale: So the program in a nutshell is great free resources that influence placed into the hands of teens who learn to teach other teens and are then rewarded by the way of cash to their schools for doing it.
6:18
Stacey Tisdale: This with a lot of data collections for analysis, we believe is the absolute best approach.
6:26
Allan Rutter: So go back to the intentions part, how equipping teens with better information drives them to have the attitude to behave better.
6:37
Allan Rutter: Is that what's going on?
6:39
Stacey Tisdale: Right.
6:39
Stacey Tisdale: So in the arena of teens talking to teens, which we know happens anyway, we want to make sure that the information the original teen gets and passes along to the other teen is something that will resonate with them on an individual level to actually change their behavior.
7:02
Stacey Tisdale: So there's whole health education theories on this, and Lisa has that background and can probably talk to it more if you're interested.
7:10
Stacey Tisdale: I think it's a whole other podcast, though, really, honestly.
7:13
Stacey Tisdale: But yeah, we want to make sure that what we're giving out resonates enough on that individual level to change those behaviors, to impact those behaviors.
7:23
Stacey Tisdale: So when they finally get behind the wheel, they make better decisions.
7:27
Allan Rutter: That makes a whole lot of sense.
7:29
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: To add further to that, we recently underwent an outside program evaluation for our program effectiveness, and findings showed that students from high schools who participated in our TDS program, Teens in the Driver's Seat, engaged in less risky driving behaviors and find engaging in risky driving behavior less acceptable.
7:49
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: This is the case for several behavior areas, which is really exciting for us.
7:54
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And these include less distracted driving, less marijuana-impaired driving, less driving after 10 p.m.
8:00
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: without an adult in the car, and more passengers buckling up when they get in the car.
8:05
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: This analysis looked at over 200 high schools over a period of two years, and we're excited to share these results and are looking forward to making these even better improvements down the line.
8:16
Allan Rutter: Well, that's impressive.
8:17
Allan Rutter: I mean, one, to have the discipline of wanting to check up on how well are we doing.
8:22
Allan Rutter: It's not about how many kids are we reaching, although we're talking about that in a little bit.
8:26
Allan Rutter: It's about what difference is being made.
8:29
Allan Rutter: And so it's pretty clear that you guys have real-time or near real-time feedback on the kinds of messages you're sending out are being heard and are being put into practice.
8:41
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Correct.
8:42
Allan Rutter: So next year you guys are going to be celebrating your 25th year of the Youth Transportation Safety Program.
8:50
Allan Rutter: Bring us back in time a little bit.
8:52
Allan Rutter: Tell us how the program started, why transportation safety aimed at youth, and then a little bit about why San Antonio.
9:01
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Sure.
9:01
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So, like with many origin stories, ours starts with tragedy.
9:06
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: 2001, the city of San Antonio lost 10 teens to car crashes in the span of six weeks.
9:13
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So, of course, understandably, the community was devastated, and everyone was looking for answers, pointing fingers, trying to understand how many young lives could have been lost so quickly.
9:24
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And unfortunately, the reality is it wasn't just local to San Antonio.
9:29
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Across the U.S., nearly 6,000 teens were dying every year in car crashes.
9:35
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: To put that into perspective, that'd be the equivalent of a plane full of teens crashing every week for an entire year.
9:42
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So imagine this a plane full of dreams, futures, and families that are forever changed by this loss.
9:50
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So something had to be done.
9:52
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So in 2002, the TDS program launched with one simple purpose stop the needless loss of teen lives on our roads.
10:00
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And over the years, we've evolved and we've grown, but the why has never changed.
10:06
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: It continues to drive what we do.
10:07
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: It's what brings together our partners, our sponsors, and teens as we continue to work to solve this problem.
10:13
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And I will say that we're fortunate to report that these numbers have gone down drastically over the years.
10:19
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And that's in part due to advanced vehicle technologies, road improvements, and of course programming like ours that's helping to shift this in the right direction.
10:29
Allan Rutter: Yeah, it's a remarkable thing how, particularly for traffic safety and roadway fatalities, because they're discrete, they happen one at a time or two at a time, it doesn't attract the attention.
10:40
Allan Rutter: And so 10 teens within the span of six weeks, that's the proximity and focus that gets everybody to go, hey, that's that's not a good thing.
10:51
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And I think that's what's so dangerous sometimes about traffic safety is that it's taken for granted.
10:56
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Everybody rides in a car, everybody drives a car.
10:58
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: We see it every day.
11:00
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And oftentimes it can be viewed more as an inconvenience, right?
11:03
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: You're commuting into work or you're commuting into school, and now you're delayed because of crash, and you're not really thinking about what's happening there, what's going on with those people.
11:12
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: It's more of an inconvenience.
11:14
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So I think it's important for us to really remind ourselves these are real people, real lives being impacted by this.
11:21
Allan Rutter: Both in terms of the impacts on people's families and as you explained, but also to help us understand the real risks associated with getting behind the wheel, which we tend to, because we've done it, sublimate that risk and not really appreciate what's really going on.
11:36
Allan Rutter: When you guys have been studying youth transportation safety risk, so you know, how much of this is about the lack of experience or how much of it is about brain development and decision making, sort of the between 18 and 25-year-old.
11:51
Allan Rutter: I mean, I think about myself as a 25-year-old.
11:54
Allan Rutter: I was a real knucklehead until at 23 I got married, and at 25 we had a kid.
11:58
Allan Rutter: It's like, it's time to be an adult now, Allan.
12:01
Allan Rutter: Explain to our listeners a little bit about youth transportation safety and the youth part, experience and decision making.
12:10
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Yeah, so I think the biggest piece that we've recognized over the years with research is that driving and experience combined with any risk factor, whether that's distracted driving, speeding, et cetera, elevates a young driver's crash risk.
12:26
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: As you think about anybody who is learning how to drive who has gone through that experience, they're learning a really big skill.
12:33
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And so whenever you're trying to practice that very complicated new skill, adding anything else can result in an increase almost 17 times in some instances.
12:43
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: I think the other piece that you mentioned is yes, we know that youth development is currently in process.
12:49
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So their frontal lobe more specifically.
12:51
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And that part of your brain is really responsible for rational thinking, judgments, decision making.
12:57
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And so our youth, unfortunately, are at a slight disadvantage just because those parts of their brain aren't fully formed.
13:03
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And so we really want to recognize they're learning one of the most important life skills in a time where their brain is not fully capable of understanding all that information.
13:13
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So it's a big factor in what we do as well in a lot of our programming, our education, et cetera.
13:19
Allan Rutter: Yeah, it sounds like so much of the messages you're trying to communicate to these young people is about changing some of those risky behaviors, which make those outcomes that much more dangerous.
13:32
Stacey Tisdale: I would add that it's a very push- and- pull system.
13:35
Stacey Tisdale: When you're looking at the whole thing, a lot of things have changed externally as well.
13:40
Stacey Tisdale: Driver's education is a big one of those.
13:43
Stacey Tisdale: You know, Texas has been on parent taught for years and years now.
13:48
Stacey Tisdale: A lot of other states are going the same way.
13:50
Stacey Tisdale: You know, driver's education is no longer in the school.
13:53
Stacey Tisdale: And so we're really relying on parents to get behind the wheel or in the seat, you know, with their kids behind the wheel and spend hours and hours teaching them something they're not equipped to do or have the time to do, sometimes have the patience to do.
14:12
Stacey Tisdale: And but we're relying on this system to put new drivers out on the road.
14:17
Allan Rutter: All the more reason to have a targeted way of helping teens communicate better content so that they can make better choices.
14:27
Allan Rutter: Let's talk a little bit about the reach of the Teens in the Driver's Seats program.
14:31
Allan Rutter: How many states are currently involved and how many schools are participating?
14:37
Stacey Tisdale: We're thrilled that so far this year, we are working with over 620 schools, our largest number to date.
14:44
Stacey Tisdale: These are mostly high schools, but we also work with middle schools, colleges, in some areas.
14:50
Stacey Tisdale: These schools represent a student population of almost 900,000 just in this school year.
14:58
Stacey Tisdale: And over the past year, so the past almost 25 years, we've worked with nearly 3,000 schools.
15:04
Stacey Tisdale: Many of these have continued the program for many years.
15:09
Allan Rutter: Wow. 900,000 population.
15:11
Allan Rutter: That's pretty impressive.
15:13
Stacey Tisdale: Yeah, these are in 32 of the 50 states.
15:16
Allan Rutter: Wow.
15:17
Allan Rutter: Okay.
15:17
Allan Rutter: 32 states, 620 schools with a population of 900,000 kids.
15:22
Allan Rutter: That's--
15:23
Stacey Tisdale: Right. And we're not done.
15:30
Allan Rutter: Well, and in 25 years, that's a pretty impressive expansion of reach.
15:30
Allan Rutter: Now, one of the things you guys have told me about is every November you host a Youth Transportation Summit in San Antonio.
15:38
Allan Rutter: Tell us about this year's meeting.
15:40
Allan Rutter: How did it compare to previous years?
15:43
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Yeah, so the summit is really the biggest thing we do every year.
15:48
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: It's our one dedicated day where we bring together schools, teachers, and students from across the country to focus on traffic safety in a really hands-on way.
15:59
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So it's grown a lot since we first launched in 2014.
16:02
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And back then, to provide some perspective, we had about 80 attendees from a little under 10 program schools.
16:10
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And last year, we hit our biggest summit ever with almost 400 attendees from over 35 schools.
16:17
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So that's more than a 120 percent jump from the previous year.
16:22
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So the growth is exciting and honestly a little scary, right?
16:26
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: In the best possible ways, because it shows how much interest and momentum there is; but, a lot of students.
16:32
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: At the core of what we do with the summit, we're really built around three pillars where we want to educate, we want them to focus on implementation, and we want them to collaborate.
16:41
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So the goal is to really support these schools in that space and ultimately give them resources to bring traffic safety back into their communities.
16:50
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So we work hard to make this event fun, of course, because we're targeting youth and teens, and we want to make it engaging.
16:57
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So we try to mix things up every year.
16:59
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: We try to use different strategies, but most importantly, this event in particular is a great space for our youth leaders to step in and take charge.
17:08
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: They help pick session topics, they choose the activities, they lead a lot of the sessions.
17:13
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So our goal is to really try to step back so that they can step in.
17:17
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: The last thing I'll say on this is we're so lucky to have such incredible partners to help us do this.
17:23
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Some show up and share powerful stories, others run sessions for us, and of course, our sponsors, like Texas Department of Transportation, National Road Safety Foundation, General Motors, and State Farm, to name a few, really support us on this.
17:38
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And without that support, days like this wouldn't be possible.
17:42
Allan Rutter: Wow.
17:42
Allan Rutter: So it's one single day, 400 attendees.
17:45
Allan Rutter: The energy in that room has got to be something.
17:48
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Oh, yes.
17:49
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: It's a sight to see.
17:51
Allan Rutter: And the three things you were talking about educate, help people, take that back and do something with it, and then help each other collaborate and learn from each other.
18:00
Allan Rutter: There's got to be some real synergy that happens with these guys who have been doing this at their school, show up in many times being on a plane or traveling for the first time, and then being in a big room and going, oh, it's not just me.
18:15
Allan Rutter: There's all kinds of people doing this.
18:18
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Yes.
18:18
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And I think that's what's some of the favorite things that we love to see.
18:22
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: We have advisors, we call them our teacher advisors, that have been doing the program for years.
18:28
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And then we have some that show up and they're like, "This is the first time, I don't know what I'm doing.
18:32
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Please help me." And so it's a beautiful thing to see them connect with more experienced advisors.
18:39
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: You have teens that we had a teen recently who that was the first time he'd ever been on a plane.
18:45
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: That was the first time he'd ever left his city.
18:47
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And he was just so ecstatic and enamored with the whole experience.
18:52
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And then he was connecting with other teens who had been like, oh yeah, this is my third summit.
18:56
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: This is so fun.
18:57
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Let me show you the ropes.
18:58
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: It was just such great synergy.
19:00
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And I think what's beautiful is when we build a network and allow for that collaboration to happen, we make everything that we do stronger because all of us are in this together.
19:11
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And like, of course, an individual alone can't do it all.
19:15
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: But together, we can go so much further and do so much more.
19:19
Stacey Tisdale: I'll also mention that same team that Lisa brought up.
19:22
Stacey Tisdale: About a month later, they were all invited to go to New York City through the National Road Safety Foundation and do a presentation to the foundation founder.
19:33
Stacey Tisdale: And he got to go on that trip as well.
19:38
Stacey Tisdale: So he got to go cross- country, you know, with the help of our funders.
19:42
Stacey Tisdale: So it was a fantastic experience and great to see.
19:46
Allan Rutter: Well, and it strikes me as taking advantage of one of the big things about going to a conference or going to some sort of meeting is the people you meet and what you get from the people you're with.
19:56
Allan Rutter: It strikes me that one of the things you guys are building is in a relatively short time frame, you're really maximizing the kind of benefits and connections that these kids are going to be able to take back with them.
20:10
Allan Rutter: That's pretty remarkable.
20:12
Stacey Tisdale: You also have to remember that pivotal point that we talked about earlier as being a teen.
20:17
Stacey Tisdale: You know, you don't know what impact these experiences are going to have on these teens.
20:23
Stacey Tisdale: And, you know, really the trajectory that it can change for their lives, just opening up a world and those leadership abilities and just knowing that there's things out there that you can do.
20:35
Stacey Tisdale: I mean, giving teens these opportunities is really just paramount in this time.
20:41
Allan Rutter: Right.
20:42
Allan Rutter: What you guys were describing of the teens being involved in preparing for content.
20:46
Allan Rutter: I've been part of putting together conferences, and that in and of itself is a kind of thing.
20:52
Allan Rutter: So the fact that they're being involved in how the meeting is being planned and how the meeting is being delivered, it is a remarkable way of conferring or at least communicating to these young guys that you're important.
21:05
Allan Rutter: We want you to be involved.
21:07
Allan Rutter: And you're right, Stacey, that can make a huge difference going forward.
21:11
Allan Rutter: So this past November summit theme was building a safer future.
21:17
Allan Rutter: Tell us a little bit about how you incorporated that theme into activities at the summit.
21:22
Stacey Tisdale: When you think about that building, it's hard not to think about building blocks, namely many people's favorite pastime of Legos.
21:30
Stacey Tisdale: So our teen advisory board really ran with that idea and helped us build, quote unquote, a fantastic day.
21:37
Stacey Tisdale: We had 11 sessions and we started off just to set the stage.
21:42
Stacey Tisdale: We had a local art teacher who specializes in translating art projects into safety projects, do an activity with our participants that created a giant safety mural using paint and, of course, the Legos.
21:56
Stacey Tisdale: The day featured lessons on ad.
21:59
Stacey Tisdale: Advocacy, road safety, personal stories, advisor-specific training, team-led activities and gains, and of course, lots of prizes, food, food, food, and a lot of music that did not include any Willie Nelson, which all ultimately resulted in, you know, these attendees going back to nine states equipped with new skills, information, and connections towards building their own foundations of safety within their community.
22:30
Allan Rutter: The more I'm hearing about this thing, the more I want to be at one.
22:34
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: You're invited.
22:35
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: You're welcome to join us anytime.
22:37
Allan Rutter: It sounds really, really cool.
22:39
Allan Rutter: Now, Lisa, you talked about how State Farm has been a sponsor of the summit.
22:45
Allan Rutter: How long have they been involved with the YTS program?
22:49
Allan Rutter: And I understand they've recently expanded the scale of their sponsorship.
22:54
Allan Rutter: What does that deeper relationship mean for expanding our reach?
22:59
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Yeah, we've been fortunate that State Farm has been a partner for almost 20 of our 25 years in existence.
23:06
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And so this year, with their generous partnership, we're working with a record number of states to expand programming into high schools.
23:13
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: The states that we're expanding work into include Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, which were those existing partnerships.
23:20
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And then the new states now include Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, and Tennessee.
23:28
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: What this really means for us is that the funding allows us to better support high school traffic safety programming in these areas, grow programming, of course, for those that do not have existing programs, provide resources, leadership opportunities, and of course, bringing those youth to San Antonio for our summit.
23:47
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Overall, they've been our longest standing private sector sponsor.
23:51
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And we're really grateful for that partnership and their continued belief in our program.
23:55
Allan Rutter: That's spectacular.
23:56
Allan Rutter: Now, as the program approaches its 25th year-- I think I've said that now five or six times--what are the prospects for the program as a whole?
24:05
Allan Rutter: I think both of you have talked about momentum that you're feeling or sensing.
24:09
Allan Rutter: What does that look like?
24:11
Allan Rutter: And how is that really showing up or manifesting in practical terms for your team?
24:19
Stacey Tisdale: As we mentioned with the recent evaluation, this has really been an exciting time for a team that works so hard to bring this best practice program to schools.
24:29
Stacey Tisdale: We're always looking for ways to build value for those we serve, and we'll always continue to do that for as long as we can.
24:36
Stacey Tisdale: We know that tapping into helping young drivers learn and engage in this time of their lives is an important part of the safe system approach, and we are here for it.
24:46
Stacey Tisdale: We know our great partners at State Farm, and really all of our funders feel the same way, and we do appreciate that camaraderie and that partnership with them.
24:56
Stacey Tisdale: We feel like we also need to give a shout out to the program schools and the advisors in the schools.
25:03
Stacey Tisdale: They are just the best and work so hard day in, day out, just to make sure their students are connected to opportunities like TDS.
25:11
Stacey Tisdale: They're not appreciated enough.
25:13
Stacey Tisdale: So if you have a teacher in your life, give them some love, give them some love from us.
25:18
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Yeah.
25:18
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And I'll add that, you know, thinking down the line 25 more years, ideally we would have worked ourselves out of a job because the roads are safer and cars are safer and we're not needed, but realistically, that's unlikely.
25:31
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So we want to aim to expand our portfolio of programming, recognizing that there are several community partners outside of schools that can benefit from what we do.
25:41
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: We're also diving more into being a resource for other traffic safety advocates regarding data on what teens feel, believe, and self-report on their safe behaviors.
25:52
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: What are these trends that we're seeing, and how can we change them?
25:57
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Because we recognize that we can't be everywhere and do everything.
26:01
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Our work can still be a significant asset to others, though, who are looking to make meaningful changes within their communities in this space.
26:08
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And lastly, my hope is that our program will continue to evolve to meet the needs of youth of tomorrow, factoring in concepts like micromobility, which basically is e-bikes, scooters, et cetera.
26:21
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Advanced vehicle technologies, as we know, cars are getting safer, but the technology's a little bit complicated.
26:28
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So, what does that mean for our young team drivers learning to drive in these vehicles?
26:32
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And of course, Stacey mentioned the safe system approach, which essentially takes a more proactive look at safety.
26:39
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So this will mean ultimately that our road systems are going to change.
26:43
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So, what does that look like for our youth of tomorrow?
26:46
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Ultimately, we know that our program has evolved significantly over the past 20 years, and I don't see that changing in the near future.
26:53
Allan Rutter: All of which sounds pretty exciting, both in terms of what you guys have described as the geographic reach of the program, the fact that you guys are thinking about different kinds of partners who also have capabilities of reaching out to teens and or the desire to do so.
27:10
Allan Rutter: It sounds like there are some real interesting opportunities for engaging different kinds of partners on the local level that have the ability that are around those kids, that are interested in taking advantage of the relationship or proximity that they have to be part of this education process.
27:28
Allan Rutter: So I can tell from our conversation today that you have plenty of passion for making transportation better for travelers, providers for these kids.
27:38
Allan Rutter: What are some other reasons that motivate you to do what you do each day?
27:43
Stacey Tisdale: I'll start.
27:44
Stacey Tisdale: For me, it's actually the unknown.
27:46
Stacey Tisdale: By unknown, I mean we do this fantastic work and send it out into the world, not always knowing who it's going to reach or what is going on in a person's life.
27:58
Stacey Tisdale: And the thought of a new teen driver learning something or thinking about actions due to an activity that they participated in maybe that day, maybe the week before, and then making the decision to buckle up or not take a risk is what really keeps me going.
28:14
Stacey Tisdale: I love the unknowns, the ones that don't show up in the data.
28:19
Stacey Tisdale: I think that those are the ones that I'm really aiming for.
28:22
Allan Rutter: Excellent.
28:23
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Yeah.
28:24
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And for me, it's a little bit more of a personal mission, not only as a mother of two, but as a daughter who knows what it's like to lose a parent to a car crash.
28:33
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: I think if one thing I do helps another to never experience that, to me, it's a mission worth investing in.
28:40
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: I'm also passionate because our program is helping to change the future of road safety by advocating youth to be those change agents.
28:48
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Much like seatbelts or smoking, our goal is to create a culture where safe behaviors are valued and prioritized and unsafe behaviors aren't.
28:57
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: So by doing this, I know in my heart, I'm helping to create a safer environment for my children and my family.
29:03
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: And that means the world to me.
29:05
Allan Rutter: Well, that's a powerful thing for both of you.
29:08
Allan Rutter: Not that I would have expected anything less.
29:10
Allan Rutter: I really appreciate both of you taking time today to join us and help our listeners understand the really exciting work that's being done across the country, making driving experiences over a lifetime start on a good footing.
29:25
Allan Rutter: So really appreciate you guys joining us today.
29:28
Stacey Tisdale: Anytime.
29:29
Stacey Tisdale: We appreciate you so much.
29:30
Stacey Tisdale: We will talk about the programming all day long.
29:33
Lisa Minjares-Kyle: Thank you for having us.
29:37
Allan Rutter: I am so impressed by the growing impact and reach of the team driver safety programs that Lisa, Stacey, and their program are delivering.
29:45
Allan Rutter: I can't wait to hear about their plans for the program's 25th anniversary celebrations this coming fall.
29:52
Allan Rutter: Thanks for listening.
29:54
Allan Rutter: If you liked what you heard or learned something, please take just a minute to give us a review, subscribe, and share this episode.
30:02
Allan Rutter: I invite you to join us next time for another conversation about getting ourselves and the stuff we need from point A to point B.
30:10
Allan Rutter: Thinking Transportation is a production of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, a member of The Texas A&M University System.
30:20
Allan Rutter: The show is edited and produced by Chris Pourteau.
30:23
Allan Rutter: I'm your host, Allan Rutter.
30:25
Allan Rutter: Thanks again for joining us.
30:27
Allan Rutter: We'll see you next time.