The Vision Zero Youth Network: A New Peer-to-Peer Program to Engage the Most Vulnerable Road Users in Injury Prevention
Author(s): Hayes
Poster Presentation:
Abstract:
Context:
The Flaw in Canada’s Approach to Vision Zero
Provinces, regions and cities across Canada are embracing the idea of Vision Zero: that deaths and serious injuries on roads can be eliminated. The Vision Zero idea originated in Sweden and has contributed to Sweden’s reduction of road deaths by 50% over twenty years. There are 5 elements in a Vision Zero plan:
1. Engineering
2. Engagement
3. Enforcement
4. Evaluation
5. Education
While Vision Zero plans across Canada follow Sweden’s lead by investing heavily in enforcement, engineering, evaluation and engagement, there is a fundamental difference in the approach to education.
Sweden began their path to Vision Zero by upgrading their driver education program. By ensuring Swedish drivers were better prepared through education at the outset, Sweden reduced driver error as much as possible first. Then they created systems to correct or reduce deaths and serious injuries when errors occur.
The chart below illustrates a few of the many differences in Sweden’s approach to driver education versus Ontario’s. (Ontario is selected because they have the best track record for road safety in Canada.)
Driver Education Requirements
In Sweden:
Formal Driver education is mandatory for all drivers.
In Ontario: Formal driver education is optional. According to MTO data, in 2019, 62% of new drivers did not take a driver education course.
In Sweden: Instruction can be provided by:
- a licenced school *
- a licenced independent instructor
- an approved family member who is at least 25 years old, has maintained a good driving record for 5 years and attends & passes a training course with their proposed student.
* Most students choose this option.
In Ontario: Instruction can be provided by;
- a school using one of over 40 approved curriculums
- a family member or friend who's been driving for at least 4 years (2 of which can be at G2 level). No skills assessment or education is required. The license must be active but the person may have been convicted of driving infractions. Minimum age for the ‘instructor’ is 19 years.**
** Most students choose this option.
In Sweden: Additional Mandatory Training for All Drivers:
- RISK 1 Course - 3.5 Hours about how drugs, alcohol, drowsiness, etc. affect driving
In Ontario: No mandatory courses about risks.
In Sweden: Additional Mandatory Training for All Drivers:
- RISK 2 Course - 4.25 Hour practical course about how the car behaves on different road surfaces and skid-control
In Ontario: No mandatory courses about car control on different surfaces and skid-control.
Canadian Vision Zero programs have not addressed that fundamental first step: to reduce driver error as much as possible through driver education. Beginner driver education in Ontario has not changed in 13 years and Ontario has more than 40 approved curriculums, with limited oversight of course delivery.
According to the Parachute Report, Vision Zero programs limit the educational component to online resources, seasonal campaigns and ad hoc safety information from police and volunteers.
This leaves a serious gap in the driver education of most new drivers in Ontario. They begin their driving career with minimal knowledge about things like:
• The risks associated with behaviours like distracted, drug-impaired, drowsy and high-speed driving.
• Situational awareness for assessing what to do in various situations.
• How to share the road with large trucks, buses, motorcycles and other types of vehicles
• How to respond to emergency vehicles.
• Best practices for winter driving and other weather conditions.
• How to drive on different types of roads (for example city vs. country).
• Information about new types of vehicles including e-bikes, scooters.
• Highway driving and driving the 401 mega-highway.
Teens/Young Adults are High Risk and Hard to Reach
Young people are the most vulnerable road users because they are immature, lack experience and tend toward risky behaviours. They tend to focus on getting their license rather than learning to drive safely. They are hard to reach with traditional media because they don’t watch live television, read newspapers or listen to the radio very often.
And Vision Zero programs ignore them, to a large extent. For example, the City of Toronto’s comprehensive Vision Zero Plan targets only two groups by age: school children and older adults. (They define ‘school children’ as pedestrians/cyclists between the ages of 4 and 19 travelling to and from school). The needs and methods of outreach are very different for 9 year-olds than 19 year-olds, and other young adults are left out, as an age group.
The Vision Zero Youth Network (VZYN)
The Vision Zero Youth Network will launch in Ontario for the 2021-22 high school term. Students across Ontario will audition to become VZYN Ambassadors. Incentives to participate will include: gaining the 40 Community Service hours they need to graduate, a $500 scholarship and an expense-paid trip to the Kick-Off Mini Conference in Toronto.
They will also work with local police and VZ partners to create assets and share crucial road safety information with peers across the province. They will be coached and supported throughout their term by the amazing Teens Learn to Drive Team of university students who are videographers, journalists, graphic artists, animators, writers, web developers and public relations & social media experts.
They will learn leadership and other skills that will help them enrich their portfolios/ resumes and build stronger networks that will help them apply successfully to their desired programs and find work in their future fields – all while becoming advocates of road safety and helping their peers learn too.
The program will also provide “Road Safety Assembly Segment” kits to their high schools. These 11-minute segments are based on the ‘strategy stations’ from the award-winning Sweet Life Road show. They are highly interactive and designed to fit into regular high school assemblies. All materials and fun giveaways (to encourage participation) will be provided to the schools.
Providing fun road safety activities over the course of the year will provide valuable information and reinforce the need to make safe decisions, in a way that ‘one-off’ events cannot.
The Teens Learn to Drive Team (TL2D)
Anne Marie Hayes is president of non-profit Teens Learn to Drive Inc. since 2009. She is a certified in-car and classroom driving instructor and the author of ‘3 Keys to Keeping Your Teen Alive’. She serves on the Board of Directors for National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) in Washington DC and on the Road Safety Committee for Mississauga. She is a member of 7 international road safety organizations.
The TL2D Team is comprised of university students who are videographers, journalists, graphic artists, animators, writers, web developers and public relations & social media experts. Their videos and campaigns have won awards and attention across the province. Prior to 2020, they facilitated the Sweet Life Road Show Strategy Stations. http://TeensLearntoDrive.com
The Sweet Life Road Show is a highly interactive high school event that has visited more than 200 schools across Ontario. The combination of interactive activities with facilitators who are peers, has received praise from principals, teachers and students across the province.
The topics covered at the Sweet Life Road Show include: Sharing the Road With Trucks, Alcohol-Impairment, Drug Impairment, Drowsy Driving, Pedestrian Visibility, Winter Driving, Dealing with Emergencies, Passenger Safety, Seatbelts & Airbags and more.
Objectives:
To raise awareness about the need, introduce a program to fill the gap in driver education and begin a change in road safety culture among young drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists through a peer-to-peer network of road safety leaders. The program will be piloted in Ontario in 2021-22 and subsequently expanded across Canada.
Target Group:
Teens and young adults ages 16 to 24.
Activity(ies):
Multi-media presentation with audience participation using Kahoot!
Deliverables:
Introduction of the Vision Zero Youth Network idea to the audience and an invitation to participate in the expansion scheduled for the 2022-23 high school term, which will include two additional provinces.