Innovation Description and Benefit:

Over the past five years, at least 382 people have been killed and another 2,809 people have been seriously injured in Missouri traffic crashes involving a distracted driver. Unfortunately, we know the actual impacts are higher than this because distracted driving is one of the most difficult crash causations to quantify.  To help address these issues, Missouri has been promoting the Buckle Up Phone Down (BUPD) initiative for five years, seeking to raise awareness and urge Missourians to commit to two behaviors that can save lives.  To further this initiative the Highway Safety Office partnered with AAA to launch the first ever BUPD High School Showdown amongst 15 high schools throughout the state in October 2021.  The Showdown consisted of a school vs. school competition to see who could obtain the most BUPD pledges amongst students, faculty, friends, family and community members. The school also completed a distracted driving/seat belt use education training video.  The Showdown was a huge success which greatly raised awareness of distracted driving and the importance of wearing a seat belt amongst teens and garnered nearly 5,000 BUPD pledges in less than two months. On Oct. 21, 2022, BUPD Day, we relaunched the campaign hoping for 45 schools to join.  Much to our surprise, 70 schools making up more than 36,500 students, entered the competition. Through creative highway safety education opportunities and robust student/community involvement, participating schools successfully garnered over 15,000 BUPD pledges.