AAA Launches Online Teen Driving Community

Helena, Mont. 7/22/2009 –AAA has launched an exclusive online social community designed specifically for teen drivers to encourage them to engage in meaningful dialogue. Teens are invited to log onto www.aaateendriving.com to share their on-the-road experiences with other teens in discussion forums, keep up-to-date on safe driving tips and resources by reading the Teens on the Road blog, vote in polls to see what other teen drivers are doing and enter to win cash prizes in the AAA Teen Driving Public Service Announcement (PSA) contest. The Teens on the Road blog will feature teen drivers from around the country as well as traffic safety experts providing tips and answering questions posed by teens.

Motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of teen deaths. In fact, in 2007, 27 teen drivers and passengers (15-19 years old) were killed in traffic crashes and 1,610 injured in Montana, according to the Montana Department of Transportation. Teens made up 10 percent of the 276 fatalities across the state. That percentage is staggering when you consider teen drivers (16-19 years old) make up only 5 percent of the total number of licensed drivers in Montana.

“Each year, more teen lives are claimed by traffic crashes than by alcohol, drugs, suicide and violence—combined,” said Denice Harris, AAA Spokeswoman. “AAA has launched this exclusive online community to serve as a platform for all teen drivers to express their concerns, stories and learn how to become safe driving advocates.”

As part of the online social community site launch, AAA will host a Teen Driving PSA contest. Teens interested in entering the contest must create a 60 second PSA designed to build awareness on the biggest issues facing teen drivers. Entries must be submitted by August 31. The top five PSAs will be posted on www.aaateendriving.com beginning September 16, where the general public will be invited to vote for their favorite PSA.  Winners of the PSA contest will receive a grand prize of $2,000, courtesy of AAA Insurance! Second place will receive $700 and third place will receive $300, also courtesy of AAA Insurance.

AAA MountainWest Club is dedicated to providing its over 170,000 members in Alaska, Montana and Wyoming with travel, insurance, financial and auto-related services. A fully taxpaying, not-for-profit corporation, AAA MountainWest, Inc. works for the improvement of motoring and traveling conditions and is a leader for travel, civic and safety issues. AAA can be visited on the Internet at www.AAA.com. To have up-to-date news and safety information from AAA delivered right to your desktop, sign-up for the new RSS Feed at http://aca.aaa.com/exts/email/?club=066#rss.