GURNEE, Ill., April 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- One of the most important events in a teenager's life is obtaining a driver's license. But while young drivers account for just 6.6 percent of all licensed drivers, they account for nearly 14 percent of all fatal crashes. In the Chicago area alone this year, at least 10 teens have already died in motor vehicle accidents. A January crash in Riverside that claimed the lives of two young drivers captured the attention of the entire state, including legislators. In an effort to improve these odds, Toyota is bringing its program to promote safe driving among teens, Toyota Driving Expectations, to Gurnee, Ill. at Six Flags Great America, April 20 - 22.
This unique program, which is free of charge and designed to teach teens and parents about defensive driving techniques against a backdrop of real- world scenarios, is coming to the Chicago area to help prevent future teen driving deaths. In Gurnee, 14 program sessions will be held-two four-hour sessions on Friday, April 20 between 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. and six four-hour sessions on both Saturday and Sunday, April 21 - 22 between 8 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. Online registration is now open at www.toyotadrivingexpectations.com.
"Toyota is committed to providing teens with the tools they need to be better prepared on the road and to become better drivers," said Paul Holdridge, Toyota's vice president and general manager - Chicago Region. "Since its inception in 2004, more than 4,000 teens and parents have successfully completed the Toyota Driving Expectations program, which was developed after several pilots and valuable feedback from teens, parents and the National Safety Council."
Toyota Driving Expectations goes beyond what is currently taught in typical driver training classes in order to help teens identify and react to dangerous driving situations. To better understand the critical relationship between distractions and reaction time, teens and parents navigate a driving course while drinking water, listening to loud music and talking on a cell phone. They also experience hard braking maneuvers on wet and dry pavement and maneuver through multiple slalom driving courses under the watchful eyes of professional drivers.
Another unique aspect of Toyota Driving Expectations is that a parent or guardian must accompany the teen driver to the four-hour program. Parents and teens are split into separate groups for part of the course, allowing parents to learn about vehicle safety technology, defensive driving and how to design and set realistic expectations for their teen. The program concludes with teens and parents reuniting to develop a safe driving contract to be put into practice when the families return home.
For more information, please visit www.toyotadrivingexpectations.com
About Toyota
Toyota established operations in North America in 1957 and will operate 15 manufacturing plants in North America by 2010. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sold more than 2.8 million vehicles in 2006. Toyota directly employs over 41,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18.6 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $28.5 billion. According to a 2005 Center for Automotive Research study, Toyota, along with its dealers and suppliers, has generated nearly 400,000 U.S. jobs, including jobs created through spending by direct, dealer and suppliers employees. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com.