Grant Empowers Florida Teens, Parents, and Law Enforcement to Promote Safer Roads and Reduce Teen Traffic Crashes

Tallahassee, FL – March 11, 2025 – State Farm has reinforced its commitment to safer roads for teens by granting $75,000 to support the Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition. The funding will empower teens, parents, and law enforcement to support critical initiatives aimed at reducing teen-related traffic crashes and fostering safer roads across the state of Florida. Specifically, the grant will enable the Coalition to:

• Create additional Ground Your Parent Kits, designed to facilitate meaningful conversations between teens and their parents about safe driving habits, empowering parents to set positive examples and actively engaged in the teen’s driving journey.
• Produce more Battle of the Belts Kits, to enable high schools across Florida to organize fun, interactive, and educational campaigns aimed at increasing safety belt usage among teens, a critical step in reducing crash-related injuries and fatalities.
• Broaden the Ground Your Parents video series, producing fresh, relatable video content that highlights the essential role of parents as driving role models while inspiring teens to encourage their families to adopt safer driving behaviors.
• Provide comprehensive traffic safety educational materials tailored to parents, teens, and law enforcement, with a focus on increasing awareness about risky behaviors, sharing best practices, and promoting and rewarding the collective effort required to ensure safer roads for everyone.

The Battle of the Belts Campaign, launched statewide last year with support from State Farm, received resounding praise from stakeholders. The program provided high schools with comprehensive kits that included pre- and post-surveys, promotional materials, and guidance to create engaging safety belt awareness campaign. This turnkey approach allowed schools to effortlessly implement the program while effectively promoting safety belt usage among teens. The campaign’s success underscored the importance of accessible resources, as participants reported increased engagement and awareness throughout their communities.

Traffic collisions remain the leading cause of fatalities among teenagers, despite being largely preventable. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), novice teen drivers are twice as likely to be involved in fatal crashes compared to adults. This risk is primarily attributed to inexperience and difficulty asserting themselves in unsafe situations.

“State Farm has been a steadfast partner in our mission to keep teens safe on Florida’s roads,” said Melissa Hamrick, Coalition Leader of the Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition. “With this generous funding, we can expand our reach and provide even more vital resources to parents, teens, and law enforcement, making a lasting impact on traffic safety.”

This grant continues State Farm’s longstanding support for the Ground Your Parents Safe Driving Campaign, an initiative that encourages teens to hold their parents accountable for practicing safe driving habits. Research from NHTSA highlights parents are the number one role-model and influencer for teen drivers, emphasizing the importance of setting a positive example behind the wheel.

“Empowering through education is essential to reducing teen-involved crashes,” said Jose Soto, Corporate Responsibility Analyst at State Farm. “We are proud to support the Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition as they champion traffic safety education and work tirelessly to make a difference in our communities.”

By increasing awareness and providing actionable resources, this partnership will continue to make strides in reducing preventable crashes and ensuring safer roads for all Floridians.

About the Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition:

The Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition (FTSDC) supports the engagement, education, and mobilization of members in the community to work collectively on developing and improving teen safe driving programs, practices, and activities and thereby save lives in Florida. The FTSDC pursues the recommendations of assessments done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as the objectives established by the Florida Strategic Highway Safety Plan. The office is funded through a subgrant by the Florida Department of Transportation and generous partners, such as State Farm. For more information on the Florida Teen Safe Driving coalition, visit their website at www.flteensafedriver.org

About State Farm®:

For over 100 years, the mission of State Farm has been to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected and realize their dreams. State Farm and its affiliates are the largest providers of auto and home insurance in the United States. Its more than 19,400 agents and 67,000 employees serve over 91 million policies and accounts – including auto, fire, life, health, commercial policies and financial services accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles, is also available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 39 on the 2024 Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit http://www.statefarm.com.