Plan My Ride: A brief, immersive, skill-building impaired driving prevention program for young adult drivers

ABSTRACT: Car crashes are the leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults. Impaired driving, including distracted, drugged, drowsy, and drunk driving, is a common cause of car crashes and an important public health and safety issue. Drunk driving has decreased among teens, but is still commonly reported and a cause for concern. Drugged driving, especially, is a critical and growing problem, particularly with the availability and growing use of marijuana, and prevention materials are lacking. Drowsy driving can result from illness as well as drug use or lack of sleep, and drivers are often unaware of the serious consequences of drowsy driving and lack strategies to avoid this behavior. From the literature, and informed by the Integrated Behavioral Model, we know that attitudes, such as the perceived dangerousness and outcome expectancies of impaired driving, perceived social norms, beliefs about personal agency to find alternatives to impaired driving, and the skills to identify and implement such alternatives are potential drivers of this behavior. The proposed Phase 2 project will complete development of Plan My Ride, an interactive online training and immersive skill-building virtual reality video experience focused on preventing impaired driving. We will include high school and college age drivers, our target audience, at all stages of the development process by forming a Young Driver Advisory Board that will provide input and feedback on the content, look, and feel of the training, as well as relatable scenarios for inclusion in the virtual reality video experience. Stakeholders such as driver education instructors and community-based prevention professionals will also inform the development of the final product. In this project, we will complete the online training, which targets the key attitudes, perceived norms, personal agency beliefs, and skills from the literature, shown to affect this behavior, using instructional science and health behavior change principles. Expert consultants in the areas of virtual reality and immersive narratives will provide guidance in developing the virtual reality video experience, which will provide users with an engaging and realistic way to practice the skills introduced in the online training. Microlearning booster content will be developed to reinforce the program content and help users develop safe driving habits. To promote effective implementation of the Plan My Ride program, we will develop group leader implementation resources. We will test the usability of the virtual reality video experience and make needed improvements. The advisory boards will provide input on all the proposed Plan My Ride program components and we will make any necessary revisions. Then, we will fully test the effectiveness of the Plan My Ride program in terms of its impact on high school and young adult drivers’ attitudes, perceived social norms, personal agency, and skills to avoid impaired driving, as well as the sustained impact of the program at a three month follow-up assessment using a randomized controlled trial design. This project will result in a tested, theory-driven, multimedia, interactive, highly immersive, scalable, prevention program that teaches skills to avoid impaired driving. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Impaired driving is a critical public health and safety issue among young drivers, and an issue for which prevention materials are needed. The proposed Phase II project will complete development of Plan My Ride, a web-based, immersive, skill-building, online training and virtual reality video experience for high school and college age drivers that uses a theory-driven approach to target attitudes, beliefs, and skills to prevent impaired driving. This project will result in the development of an effective, evidence-based, scalable impaired driving prevention program that teaches behavioral skills.