Driver’s ed Web site clicks with teens

BOISE – With teen drivers in Idaho more likely than most to get in serious crashes, the state has been trying to help them become safer via an Internet site that features pulsating music, fast-paced games and prizes.

The unique Web site won national recognition last month, and teens who use it report that they’re amazed its quizzes and other activities really come from the state driver’s manual, because they’re so much “funner.”

“This site is awesome,” a teen from Victor, Idaho, e-mailed. Another teen from St. Anthony wrote, “I am so tired of reading straight out of the driver’s manual or listening to lectures all the time, but XTR4 makes it kinda fun to learn the rules.”

The site, www.XTR4.com, was developed by the Boise office of the international public relations firm Publicis, which contracts with the state transportation department for various media campaigns.

A couple of major car manufacturers have Web sites for teen drivers, but they’re not like XTR4, said Mary Toy of Publicis. “This is really geared toward teens,” Toy said. “We did a lot of research, based it on stats. Over 74 percent of teens are online. They’re doing their homework, they’re chatting, they’re downloading. One of the things we looked for was what do teens appreciate in a Web site, and what makes them return?”

Toy’s firm held a series of focus groups with Idaho 13- to 18-year-olds and talked about what the kids like online. “Animation, flash, things moving, sounds, color,” she said. “And then of course you have to pay off with content. We are delivering a serious message, but we’re framing it so that we’re keeping them engaged and they’re taking time to participate.”

Since its launch last October, the site has averaged about 5,000 hits a month, and more than 70 percent of teens who visit it register and visit again. The site has also distributed dozens of donated prizes, from music CDs to T-shirts to Blockbuster gift certificates.

Site users earn chances in prize drawings simply by completing quizzes or other activities, not by their scores. If they give a wrong answer, they get another chance, and eventually they are given the right answer plus an explanation.

Sara Somers, a Boise teen and aspiring driver, said she’s starting driver’s ed next February. “I took like five out of the six quizzes” on the Web site, she said. “I like those things. I kinda passed a couple of ‘em, I think.”

In a driving game, she clicked an option for drunken driving. “I kinda ran a couple stoplights and those cops are fast. I didn’t make it very far,” she said.

Somers, who is just turning 14, said she thinks she’ll be a good driver when she’s old enough to get her license at 15 1/2. “Whenever you get me in there by myself, I’m pretty focused, and I think I could do that,” she said.

Driving is a hot conversation topic among Somers and her friends, with much speculation focusing on who will get their license first and when they’ll be able to give everyone else rides.

Josephine O’Connor, coordinator of the youthful driver program for the state Office of Highway Safety, said Idaho teens account for one out of every four car crashes, though they’re only about 7 percent of the driving population. Overall, they’re more than twice as likely as other drivers to be involved in crashes, and Idaho’s teen driving fatality rate is above the national average.

“They’re a difficult audience to reach,” O’Connor said. “These days, there’s so many other things taking their attention. Safety’s not No. 1 on their list.”

The state Office of Highway Safety receives federal funds for its youthful driver program, and it used a portion of those to develop the Web site. “With our limited budget, we’ve done pretty well,” O’Connor said. “We’ve done it on a shoestring.”

She estimated that the entire project has cost about $80,000, including development of the site, maintaining it and quarterly “refreshers” that include new games and other content.

Another refresher is in the works right now, to be finished in time for the start of school in September. Once that’s in place, prize drawings will take place weekly, but between now and then, site users still can accumulate chances for the next drawing.

Only 14- through 19-year-olds can win prizes, but anyone can use the Web site. So far, the quizzes – most of which are based directly on the official state driver’s manual – are the most popular attraction, followed by games and then various “helpful tips” sections.

Those include “5 Driver’s Test Mistakes,” “10 Ways to Dodge a Ticket” and “Factoids.”

One of the “factoids” tells of “50 Ways to Lose Your License,” including the news that young drivers can lose their supervised driving permit for getting even one ticket.

“If you’re under 21 and you get caught purchasing, consuming or possessing any alcohol, you can punt that license through the uprights. Same goes for illegal drugs and any drug paraphernalia,” the factoid tells readers. “If you’re under 18 and you quit school, consider your license quit as well. Rack up two tickets before you reach your 18th birthday, and it’s back on the skateboard, Charlie – no license.”

The XTR4 site won the PACE award from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and it’s now being looked at as a model for other states.

O’Connor said nationwide surveys show that parents think drug abuse is the leading threat to their teens, but actually teen driving crashes are the No. 1 risk to teens’ lives and health.

From 2001 to 2003, 109 Idaho teens aged 15 to 19 died in crashes; 72 percent of them weren’t wearing their seat belts. About 55 of them would have survived if they had buckled up.

That’s among the safety messages that O’Connor hopes teens will get from the XTR4 Web site, whose name is short for “Xtra Training Resources for Teens.”

Somers, after her first visit to the Web site, said, “It’s extremely educational. I didn’t know half the stuff ‘til now.”