The Checkpoints Program

Motor vehicle crash rates are higher for teens than for members of any other age group.  High crash rates among teen drivers are attributed to their young age, lack of driving experience, and propensity for risky behaviors.  Crash risk is greatest during the first two years of driving, is particularly elevated during the first months of driving, and is disproportionately high at night and with teen passengers.  Delaying licensure and imposing restrictions on driving privileges after licensure can reduce teen driver crash risk.  While graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs have delayed access to full licensure, provided policy restrictions on high-risk driving conditions after licensure, and reduced teens’ crash rates, enhanced parental management of teens ’ early driving has potential to further reduce teens’ risk of injury in motor vehicle crashes.  The Checkpoints Program was created by Dr. Bruce Simons-Morton of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development to help facilitate parental management of teen driving during the early stages of licensure.

Parents can play an important role in risk prevention by setting and reinforcing limits on high-risk driving conditions during early independent driving.  Greater parental restrictions have been associated with better teen driving safety outcomes.  Research has shown that nearly all parents set limits on novice teenagers, but these limits are not strict and not maintained long enough for teens to gain valuable driving experience under relatively less dangerous conditions.  Parents’ driving restrictions have been more related to trip conditions (i.e., where the teen is going and when returning) than to high-risk driving conditions, such as driving at night and with teen passengers.  Restrictions on high-risk conditions decline rapidly in the year after licensing.

The Checkpoints Program was designed to increase parental limits on novice teen independent driving under high-risk conditions.  The program is based on the protection motivation theory and uses persuasive communication techniques supported by various combinations of a video, newsletters, booklets, and facilitated discussions to encourage parents to use the program’s driving agreement with their teens.  The Checkpoints Parent-Teen Driving Agreement (PTDA) is designed to facilitate clear rule-setting on driving privileges during the first year of independent driving.  The goal is for parents and teens to negotiate an agreement on limits related to driving at night, with passengers, on high-speed roads, and in inclement weather.  The Checkpoints PTDA includes four periods of several months each, allowing for a gradual increase in driving privileges.  The Checkpoints Program has been implemented successfully in different settings and at different points in the licensing process.

Several randomized control trials have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of the Checkpoints Program.  Significant treatment effects of the Checkpoints Program have been found on parent and teen risk perception, parent outcome expectations for parental limits, communication about driving, parental limit setting, and teens’ risky driving behavior and traffic violations.

University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute

2010