Castle Country Radio was given the opportunity to learn more about Utah’s Zero Fatalities Campaign by speaking over the telephone with Outreach Coordinator, Lori Huntsman.

“We have revamped our Zero Fatalities website this year. If you go to https://zerofatalities.com/ you’ll see what a great resource it can be. We have several categories that you can go to, starting with pre-driver which age 12 to 14, there are some great tips on the importance of seatbelts. There’s an assignment that they can watch a video and answer the assignment,” said Huntsman. This is a great way for parents to start the conversation with their teens about responsible driving. Currently, the Zero Fatalities campaign is encouraging health teachers to show this video to their students as part of their Traffic Safety curriculum.

There is also a category for drivers who have obtained their learner’s permit. “As a parent, we’re expected to drive 40 hours with our teens and we don’t really know what it is we are expected to teach them or how to teach them. Under the learner permit icon, the best resource we have there is a catalog of videos put out by C.H.O.P it’s the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research of Prevention Center,” said Huntsman. The videos will start with simple things to do in a parking lot, then it moves on to residential roads, intermediate roads and then highways.

“Now another resource that we have for parents is our Teen and Parent Night. Which is an hour-long presentation that helps teens and their parents start conversations about the importance of safe driving, and the things that teens expect from their parents, and the thing that parents will expect from their teens, and it starts these conversations,” said Huntsman. Parent involvement is key to preventing crashes among new drivers. Parent night webinars are available on Monday and Thursday evenings and you do have to register beforehand online.

“We’re excited for parents around the state to start using these resources because we really think that they can make a difference. You know accidental crashes are the number one cause of teen deaths in the U.S. and we want to change that statistic and by implementing these ideas we really think we can make that happen,” stated Huntsman. To learn more about the Zero Fatalities Campaign visit their website at https://zerofatalities.com/ to access the many resources they offer for parents and young drivers.