General Motors (GM) and GHSA are collaborating to reduce distracted driving by providing research and resources to help the State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs), their partners and other safety stakeholders combat this persistent but preventable problem.
GHSA and GM have provided $585,000 in grants to states to implement promising approaches to fight distracted driving. This year, GHSA awarded grants of $100,000 each to the SHSOs in Maryland and Missouri to help them develop, implement and evaluate local distracted driving prevention programs.
Building upon the success of last year’s campaign, GHSA is continuing their partnership with Youthcast Media Group (YMG), a nonprofit that trains high school and college students from underserved communities, more than 95% of whom are youth of color, to write about and report on overlooked health and social issues such as traffic safety.
In 2024, YMG worked with high school student journalists to highlight data illustrating the extent of the problem and show the personal toll of distracted driving through profiles of victims and their families. This year, YMG will work with these student journalists to highlight data illustrating the extent of the problem and show the personal toll of distracted driving through profiles of victims and their families.
In 2024, YMG youth developed a digital toolkit that includes social media posts that SHSOs and their partners can use to engage with 16- to 24-year-olds.
GHSA recruited social media influencers and professional and college athletes to help spread the distraction-free message to their fans and followers during Distracted Driving Awareness Month this April. They included NASCAR driver and safety advocate Ross Chastain; Adrian Wood, Ph.D., an author, speaker, and blogger who posts updates on her life as a mother of four, including one child with special needs; Adria Thompson, a prominent dementia care educator; and three West Virginia University athletes and coaches.
Peer-to-peer messaging is an effective way to persuade others. For 2024, GHSA’s membership and staff reached out to their peers to change the social norm around distracted driving. GHSA members and staff posted videos sharing why they choose to be distraction-free and encouraged others to post videos as well.
The campaign was a tremendous success garnering support from dozens of members and many partner organizations including FCCLA, Laser Tech, Youthcast Media, SADD, Intoxalock, NRSF, National Safety Council and The Wise Drive. To view all of the videos check out the YouTube Playlist below, or click here.
Cellphones are a huge part of our lives, from the moment we wake up to the time we fall asleep. Unfortunately, our addiction to cellphones means that distracted driving is incredibly pervasive – and deadly – on U.S. roads.
Research indicates that it takes as little as 30 days of doing the same thing every day to make it routine. In April 2023, GHSA and GM encouraged all drivers to take a break from their phone whenever they get behind the wheel, with the goal of forming a lifelong safety habit.
GHSA held a webinar in September 2024 to share the success of the grant programs in Washington and the District of Columbia and discuss the Youthcast Media Group distracted driving project.
Download the presentations
In 2022, GM supported the publication of an action-oriented, recommendation-rich report that takes a new look at distracted driving. The report includes a summary of the current distracted driving challenges; what the latest research tells us about risks, prevalence, public opinion and policy; the efficacy of distracted driving countermeasures; and what states and other highway safety entities are doing to address this problem.
Read the personal story of Steve Keifer, founder of The Kiefer Foundation and former president of General Motors International.
