DRIVE SMART COLORADO INC
955 W Moreno, Colorado Springs, CO 80905

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Reduce the number of traffic crashes through community collaboration and education.

High School Traffic Safety Challenge and Drivers 20 and Younger Traffic related deaths continue to be the number one killer of teens. To ease this problem on a local level, DRIVE SMART COLORADO created the High School Traffic Safety Challenge. The largest and most successful campaign in DRIVE SMART for the past thirty-two years, this peer-to-peer organized campaign takes place annually in the fall. An average of 34 high schools in El Paso and Teller County (representing 25,000 students and staff members) participate in this important traffic safety educational campaign. Students design a six-week long traffic safety program to fit their schools individual needs. Each school must still fulfill two minimum requirements to complete the challenge (three unannounced safety belt/cell phone observations, and at least one presentation and/or display. The presentation can be flexible and creative, or students could choose from a list of community experts (emergency/first responders, insurance, driving schools etc.) who volunteer their time to share their knowledge and expertise. The topics range from substance free driving, aggressive driving, seat belt use, to distracted driving and speeding. There are suggested programs and contests that could be added to enhance their campaign such as a creative writing, art poster, social media and video contest that is designed to create more avenues for participation. There are videos available for use in science and health classes or during lunch break. Students have an opportunity to win awards for the school, be creative in their campaign, educate their fellow students and potentially, save lives. Annually, seat belt use by area teens increases an average of 10% and cell phone use decreases by 2% following the High School Challenge. The DRIVE SMART COLORADO High School Traffic Safety Challenge serves as a model program for other regions in Colorado. State Farm Insurance sees this program as so important that they have supported the program with a grant. DRIVE SMART COLORADO also educates local University and college students on the dangers of distracted driving as well as the area military installations (Air Force and Army) young drivers.

Highway Safety Programs in El Paso, Teller and Pueblo Counties The large undertaking to increase seat belt and child safety seat use in Colorado has been a primary task of DRIVE SMART COLORADO since its inception in 1988. Currently DRIVE SMART COLORADO targets three Colorado counties (El Paso, Teller, Pueblo) with this life saving education. DRIVE SMART COLORADO works with community members, law enforcement and local governments in each of the counties to assist in educating the local citizens on the importance of increasing seat belt use and/or child safety seats. This can prove to be a daunting task because in many parts of Colorado, and especially the more rural portions of the three counties, there is a very low seat belt use rate, yet over fifty percent of the state fatalities occur in the rural areas. DRIVE SMART COLORADO has seen successful in being able to help raise the seat belt use rate in several of the counties, and others continue to struggle. According to the Colorado Department Of Transportation Seat Belt Survey for 2019, Colorado had a seat belt use rate of 88.3%. El Paso County had a seat belt use rate of 89.6%, and Pueblo County had a seat belt use rate of 80.2%. Teller County seat belt use rate was not taken in 2019. The seat belt convincer is a popular interactive display that is well utilized in El Paso County with direction from DRIVE SMART COLORADO and operated by our partner, The Colorado Springs Police Department. In addition, the Colorado Springs Police Department donates office and storage space to the organization to support their commitment to safe and sober driving. This donation is valued at $49,672.

Older Driver By 2030, all baby boomers will be older than 65. This will expand the size of the older population so that 1 in every 5 residents will be retirement age. In Colorado, one in seven Coloradans (13.8 percent) is age 65 or older. By 2050, this will change to one in five (1.7 million). With those numbers in mind, DRIVE SMART COLORADO was asked by the Colorado Department of Transportation write a grant focusing on the senior driver. Creating a mission to address safe driving and transportation needs of seniors by providing resources to support independence so they remain integrate members of their community as they transition from drivers to passengers, DRIVE SMART staff became National CarFit Technicians and Coordinators (a program developed by AARP, AAA and the AOTA) to help seniors fit better in their cars so they might be able to drive more safely, longer. El Paso, Teller and Pueblo counties have held free public CarFit events working with dozens of seniors (65 years and older). Additionally, DRIVE SMART COLORADO staff created a 67 page booklet Colorado's Guide for Aging Drivers and Their Families (currently in its forth updated edition) that is full of information from the Department of Revenue, AAA, AARP, the American Occupational Therapy Association and local resources, all designed to help the older driver, physicians, law enforcement and families as they navigate the issues related to driving - keeping seniors on the road safely, whether behind the wheel or in the passenger seat. Nearly 75,000 have been distributed throughout Colorado.

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