Allstate Foundation Helps Injury Free Coalition Empower Teen Drivers
A grant from the Allstate Foundation for $47,000 will help the Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Rochester (IFCKR) work towards reducing the rate of car-related injuries among teenagers. Thanks to the grant, IFCKR will run education and community outreach initiatives aimed at raising awareness of safe driving.
“Car crashes are the number one reason for adolescent deaths, both nationally and locally, and most are preventable,” said Anne Brayer, M.D., director of IFCKR and associate professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC).
The grant will fund several initiatives to raise awareness about safe driving for teens. Among the initiatives is the Traffic Teens group, a safety advocacy group made up of area high school students. The teens meet monthly to develop communication strategies to educate peers about the dangers of reckless driving. Since they’ve come together, Traffic Teens have designed and distributed safety bracelets, created public service announcements, developed a Traffic Teens Facebook page and compiled safe driving kits, which they plan to distribute to schools.
The Allstate Foundation’s grant will help fund other initiatives as well, including trauma workshops, held for area high school students. During trauma workshops, health providers in URMC’s Pediatric Emergency Medicine Department and Kessler Trauma Center’s division of trauma surgery at URMC to simulate the aftermath of a car crash in front of classes of students. The grant will also fund Rides for Life, a car show and safety awareness event that takes place every fall, as well as educational workshops held for parents of new teen drivers.
IFCKR is based out of Golisano Children’s Hospital at URMC. The coalition is made up of individuals, groups and organizations dedicated to raising awareness about injury prevention among children in the Rochester-area community and their families. For more information on the Smart Teen Driving Program, funded by the Allstate Foundation and coordinated by IFCKR, visit http://bit.ly/IFCKRAllstate.