Abstract
Despite the proven benefits of driver education in skill acquisition and safe driving outcomes, few studies have investigated interventions that can increase access to driver training (DT), particularly for lower income teens and teens of color. While our team has coined the term Driving Training Deserts (DTDs) and we are working towards understanding how residing in a DTD leads to lower propensity to complete DT (see other projects), what is missing is our understanding of how to address this issue. As disparities in access to driver training and obtaining license before 18 years old could compound disparities in income and education, it is critical to understand how interventions can address this problem.
We hypothesize that residing in a DTD reduces teens’ likelihood to enroll in and complete DT; the challenge of physically transporting oneself to DT center as well as the cost is likely prohibitive. Preliminary analyses support our hypothesis on the associations between financial and physical access and completion of driver training: 21% of residents under 25 in DTD completed driver training and secured licensure before 18 years old, compared to 43% of young residents in non-DTDs. As disparities in accessibility to DT are disparities in health outcomes and mobility, our research will uncover an actionable way forward for addressing health and mobility equity. We will do so in the following Aims:
Aim 1: Investigate the role of Scholarships in encouraging DT completion. Megan S. Ryerson is a Senior Fellow at CHOP, and CHOP’s partner, Ohio’s Gov. DeWine, announced the new program that awarded grants to nonprofits to identify teens needing financial assistance. This has the potential to be groundbreaking in increasing accessibility to DT for teens, especially low-income teens and teens of color. Our team will co-create a survey for the teens who were offered scholarships, and use the survey results to develop actionable recommendations and policies toward future scholarships for DT. We will then design algorithms to target DT scholarships to those needing them most and who will most benefit from these scholarships.
Aim 2: Assessments to improve our knowledge of how teens need to train. Wide-spread, easily accessible DT would benefit teens in terms of imparting safe driving skills; yet, many barriers to supply and accessibility exist. Thus, a mechanism to assess teen driving and offer targeted suggestions for improvement would be beneficial; teens could receive a “prescription” for driver training to do with a parent or teacher. A low cost, easily accessible way to assess a teen’s driving skills is by using a mobile Virtual Driving Assessment tool, developed by our partner team at CHOP. The idea here is that even if teens lack access to DT, a mobile VDA at their school, local library, or community center could help them understand the specific skills they lack. While the VDA cannot help train a driver, it can help offer specific feedback on what a young driver must study and learn. Using the implementation of the VDA in CHOP offices across Philadelphia, which has already been completed, we will use already collected interview data from teens who engage with the VDA at Philadelphia centers and evaluate the ability of the VDA to provide actionable information. We will then determine how best to deploy the VDA as a low-cost assessment intervention that could be set up in schools, pediatric offices, libraries and other community-based locations to help assess teens’ safe driving skill deficits.
Description
Timeline
Strategic Description / RD&T
This project is a direct fit with Safety21 mission as it aims at improving the safe driving skills for young drivers, as well as making these safe driving skills more accessible to all teens. Motor vehicle crashes are the second leading cause of death in teens and study shows that the fatality rate/100,000 persons is 34% higher in the Black population compared to the white population. Therefore, identifying the policies and interventions that will most effectively reduce crashes, especially in minority communities, is a public health imperative of which Safety21 is deeply committed. Much scholarship is devoted to understanding why teen drivers crash at higher rates than older drivers; members of our team have made the groundbreaking discovery that teens who engage in BTW DE crash at lower rates. What remains unknown is the accessibility of BTW DE to teens, and disparities in this accessibility and how we can address this accessibility. As disparities in accessibility to BTW DE are disparities in health outcomes (crashes) and mobility (i.e., ability to secure early licensure), our research will uncover an actionable way forward to directly address healthy and mobility equity.
This project is also deeply related to Education, and can serve as an education project, as it is seeking to make driver training more accessible.
Deployment Plan
1st-3rd quarter: 1 journal article / quarter
4th quarter: actionable information and policy suggestions and algorithms for scholarship deployment
Expected Outcomes/Impacts
This project proposes quantifiable tools to help local authorities intervene and reduce barriers to access to DT, especially racial and economic barriers. This includes the distribution of scholarships and prioritized deployment of VDA. The proposed scholarship research allows local authorities to customize the parameters of scholarships based on local conditions and reduce the disparities in driver training access and improve driving skills among teens. By helping local authorities prioritize areas for deployment of VDA, the proposed project will allow greater access to a low-cost driver assessment tool. The VDA program helps to improve the driving skills of young drivers not only improving their safety but also the safety of other road users. The proposed project will identify individual socio-economic and physical barriers to driver training access. These findings, combined with previous findings on DTDs, will help local authorities distribute scholarships and VDA more equitably especially among underrepresented and disadvantaged populations. By taking on accessibility and explicitly looking at disadvantaged neighborhoods we can identify strategies for improving accessibility.
Expanding the accessibility of DT through multiple factors – through scholarships, through virtual driving assessment, etc. -- is a means to create new job opportunities in DT and technology. The deployment, operation, and monitoring of the VDA will create job opportunities for local community members. And, scholarships for DT will create higher demand for DT services, thus creating more demand for DT careers.
Expected Outputs
The proposed scholarship research allows local authorities to customize the parameters of scholarships based on local conditions and reduce the disparities in driver training access and improve driving skills among teens. By helping local authorities prioritize areas for deployment of VDA, the proposed project will allow greater access to a low-cost driver assessment tool. The VDA program helps to improve the driving skills of young drivers not only improving their safety but also the safety of other road users.
TRID
TRID database search (for research projects)
A search of “driver training scholarships” in the TRID database yielded zero references. A search for “Virtual Driver Assessment for Feedback and Teens” yielded Zero References. A search for “Virtual Driver Assessment and Teens” yielded zero references. A search for “Virtual Driver Asessment and youth” yielded one reference which is relevant, the team will review.
Can Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder Use Virtual Reality Driving Simulation Training to Evaluate and Improve Driving Performance? An Exploratory Study
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Volume 47, Issue 8, pp 2544-2555
Individuals Involved
| Email |
Name |
Affiliation |
Role |
Position |
| mryerson@upenn.edu |
Ryerson, Megan |
University of Pennsylvania |
PI |
Other |
Budget
Amount of UTC Funds Awarded
$
Total Project Budget (from all funding sources)
$120268.00
Documents
Match Sources
No match sources!
Partners
| Name |
Type |
| Children's Hospital of Philadelphia |
Deployment & Equity Partner Deployment & Equity Partner |
