NEWS from AAA Oklahoma, Jan. 25 2007 – A new campaign has been launched aimed at putting the brakes on fatal car and pickup crashes involving teens and young adults.

AAA clubs across the country have joined with the Ad Council and a coalition of state Attorneys General and consumer protection agencies and national partners such as SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), to promote the new “UR the Spokesperson” campaign, designed to reduce reckless driving and save teenage lives.

In Oklahoma, 153 young people ages 15-20 were killed in traffic crashes in 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nationwide, car crashes are the number one cause of death among teens and young adults. NHTSA data shows that, on average in the U.S., more than 300,000 teens are injured in car crashes each year, nearly 8,000 are involved in fatal crashes and more than 3,500 are killed. NHTSA research also shows that teen drivers are involved in more than five times as many fatal crashes as adults. Young drivers are more likely to speed, run red lights, make illegal turns, and die in an SUV rollover.

With the message “Speak Up,” the UR the Spokesperson campaign targets those ages 15 to 21, encouraging them to be the spokesperson against reckless driving by speaking up when they are in a car with friends and don’t feel safe. The campaign seeks to increase the awareness of risks involving reckless driving by focusing on the dangers of speeding, the importance of avoiding distractions and the value of wearing seat belts.

“We need to give teenagers the authority, so to speak, of feeling comfortable telling the teen driver of the car they are in that they don’t feel safe – that they want him

or her to drive right,” said Chuck Mai, spokesman for AAA Oklahoma. “This campaign effectively empowers passengers to prevent crashes through the use of peer pressure.”

Research shows that young drivers may be more likely to listen to their friends than to adults. When a friend speaks up, a teenage driver will be more likely to listen because they don’t want to damage the friendship or be labeled a bad driver. The UR the Spokesperson campaign includes a series of public service announcements (PSAs), a new Web site and a soon-to-be launched contest. The PSAs target teen passengers, rather than the driver.

“We want it to become not only socially acceptable, but socially expected for teens to speak up when they are riding with a friend and don’t feel safe,” said Mai. “Parents need to know that car crashes are the number one killer of teens – and they need to let their teens know they’re counting on them to say something if the risk level escalates. It takes guts, but teens will have an easier time of it if they know their parents are behind them.”