Research In Action

I am looking forward to attending this year's Lifesavers Conference in Tampa, FL from March 15th to 17th. The nation's largest traffic safety conference, Lifesavers draws more than 2,000 professionals from law enforcement, industry, state government agencies, research, hospital-based injury prevention programs, and nonprofit safety groups who come together to learn about the latest science and resources to take action for improving safety on our roads.

Since I work closely with CIRP's Teen Driving Safety Research team, I'll attend many of the workshops in the Distracted Driving track and the Teen Driving Safety track.

In particular, I'm excited to attend Not All Needs Are Equal: Leveling the Playing Field for Teens (Sunday, March 15: 10:30 am-noon).

This workshop will highlight the latest research and resources to help teens on the autism spectrum, in the foster care system, and with learning disabilities stay mobile and connected with educational, employment, and social opportunities. Rachel K. Myers, PhD, a research scientist at CIRP, will discuss her recent research that is helping to identify the barriers to, resources to support, and experiences of learning to drive with autism. She will share results of qualitative studies with driving instructors and health care providers that describe their experiences supporting autistic teens and their families.

Rachel will be joined by Alan Abramowitz, JD, executive director of the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program, who will talk about supporting youth in foster care as they learn to drive, and Dr. Miriam Monahan, founder and director of the Driver Rehabilitation Institute and a leader in the field of cognition and driving, who will share her experiences teaching teens with learning disabilities to drive. Moderated by NHTSA Highway Safety Specialist Devin Burke, this workshop will provide attendees with a better understanding of the resources available to support these teens whether they decide to drive or explore other options to stay mobile.

Distracted Driving Workshops

While at Lifesavers, don't miss the well-planned workshops in the Distracted Driving track. Designed as a purposeful curricula on distracted driving prevention, the track moves from a general understanding of the state of the science and key issues (pedestrians, culture change) on day 1; to learning how to get a good law on the books and then promoting, enforcing and prosecuting the law on day 2; to emerging vehicle technologies to keep drivers attentive and partnering with employers to prevent distracted driving on day 3.

Click here to learn about CIRP's driving with neurodevelopmental differences research.

Click here to learn about CIRP's distracted driving research.