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Kentucky Safe Teen Driving Challenge

Kentucky Safe Teen Driving Challenge

A statewide, multi-agency safety campaign using technology, competition, and real-world driving data to encourage safer teen driving behaviors.

 

My Role: Program Leadership · Web Design & Development · Graphic Design · Communications · Media Relations · Project Coordination

WHY

  • Teens are inexperienced drivers and still developing driving habits.
  • Most teen crash injuries and fatalities result from preventable choices, so we must empower them to make smart, safe decisions behind the wheel.
  • Teens are more likely to engage in risky behaviors like speeding, distracted driving, and not wearing seatbelts.
  • Crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the United States.
  • Our goal is simple: We want every teen to make it home safely every time they drive.

BACKGROUND

  • Data in Kentucky show higher fatality and injury rates among teens due to inexperience and risky driving behaviors.

    Over the past three years in Kentucky alone:

    • 47,000+ crashes involved teen drivers.
    • More than 13,000 injuries occurred
    • 210 lives were lost

    Most of these tragedies stem from decisions that are preventable, such as speeding, distracted driving, and not wearing a seatbelt.

    Recognizing the need to shift behaviors early, the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety launched the Safe Teen Driving Challenge; an innovative, app-based competition inspired by a successful program in Missouri. Given the popularity of “challenges” on platforms like TikTok that reach teens, we wanted to stage a contest that allowed them to compete for cash and the title of being Kentucky’s safest teen. 

AUDIENCE

  • The target audience for the Kentucky Safe Teen Driving Challenge was teens between the ages of 16 and 19 who held either a driver’s permit or a full driver’s license. Participants were also required to have access to a smartphone, a guardian’s permission, and valid auto insurance.
  • Our secondary audience included parents, grandparents, and educators who have teens in this age group and could encourage their participation while reinforcing the importance of safe driving habits.

GOAL

  • The primary goal was to educate and engage at least 500 teen drivers across the Commonwealth, encouraging them to adopt safer behaviors behind the wheel. We aimed to use technology to reinforce good habits while leveraging media, school networks, and state leadership to amplify the message. By downloading an app, drivers get tailored feedback on their driving habits so they can make adjustments and we gained valuable data.

SOCIAL MEDIA

With a $5,000 advertising budget, we strategically placed Instagram ads to engage teen drivers directly, while using Facebook to reach parents, grandparents, educators, and key community partners to help amplify the message. All creative was developed in-house, from video production to print and digital assets, to keep production costs to a minimum. Employees also volunteered their teens to serve as actors and voiceover talent, which not only personalized the campaign but also encouraged families to share the videos within their own networks, increasing organic engagement.

MEDIA & OUTREACH

Hosted launch press event with Governor Andy Beshear, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray, a distracted driving advocate and a high school student.

We partnered with our prize sponsors, AAA East Central and AAA Bluegrass, to donate $2,500 to fund the prize money for the teens.

We shared information with stakeholders like the Kentucky Education Cabinet, Kentucky State Police, high schools, our district offices, and school resource officers, helped promote the contest through email blasts, social media posts, and posters.

Hosted press event with Gov. Beshear to announce the winners in April.

WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

Designed and developed the campaign landing page to provide teens, parents, and school partners with a centralized resource for registration, program information, and campaign updates.

RESULTS

Overview

  • Media impact → 79 outlets / 62.4M reach
    Participation → 1,200+ teens / 1.3M miles
    Behavior change → 17–41% improvement
    Digital performance → 10,902 sessions
    Paid media → 805K impressions / 10.9K clicks

  • 41% of drivers improved distracted driving scores by at least 10%.

  • Engaged contest drivers—those who opened the app every day on average—were 39% less distracted than those that didn’t frequently open the app.

  • Engaged drivers spent 43% less time speeding.

  • Engaged drivers had 26% less hard braking events.

Driving Behavior Improvements

During the contest, 17–41% of drivers improved key driving behaviors by at least 10%, including:

  • Speeding: 17%
  • Acceleration: 30%
  • Hard Braking: 34%
  • Distraction: 41%

Landing Page Analytics

  • Sessions: 10,902
  • Active Users: 9,471
  • New Users: 7.29%

Teen Drivers

  • Instagram: 571,012 impressions | 91,861 reach | 2,464 clicks | 0.43% CTR | 21,845 post engagements | 0:01 video plays at 100% | 6.22 frequency

Parents

  • Facebook: 234,533 impressions | 84,676 reach | 8,459 clicks | 3.61% CTR | 42,003 post engagements | 0:03 video plays at 100% | 2.77 frequency

Totals

  • 805,545 impressions
  • 176,128 reach
  • 10,923 clicks
  • 1.36% CTR
  • 63,848 post engagements
  • 0:01 video plays at 100%
  • 4.57 frequency