ODOT Program Works To Educate Young Drivers About Work Zone Safety

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is working to make sure that young drivers stay safe when they encounter work zones on the road. That's why ODOT has been in a partnership with a program called Work Zone Safe.

Work Zone Safe is a digital program that gives teen drivers roughly 45 minutes of online instruction so that they can be more confident drivers whenever they encounter work zones. Tom Robins is the founder of Work Zone Safe, and he said that he initially founded the program for a variety of reasons. Safety was one of the biggest reasons for starting this program, and it's the top priority for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. 

Robins said that work zones can be complex and even overwhelming for young drivers because of all the different signs that have been put up, the workers, the cones, and even some lane changes.

"We want to take that anxiety that they have and replace it with being empowered. The number one goal though of work zone safety is to put a face behind the flag so that teen drivers understand their behavior, when behind the wheel or as a passenger, can impact whether or not somebody comes home and sees their family at the end of the workday," Robins said.

Oklahoma was also the first state to adopt the Work Zone Safe program, and other states could be following Oklahoma's lead in the near future.

"Oklahoma is the first state in the nation to adopt Work Zone Safe. There are many other states that are looking at adopting it, plus we now have a national work zone safe program that’s been adopted as a national teen driver work zone safety. So literally Oklahoma paved the way in modernizing teen driving education for work zone safety," Robins said.

Work Zone Safe has already done over 20 events with about 15,000 teenagers all across the state discussing work zone safety and about 2,500 teens actually go throught he Work Zone Safe program so far.

Teenagers who complete the Work Zone Safe program can receive incentives for doing so such as a discount on their insurance, and they can even potentially win a small educational scholarship.