One of the leading providers of car insurance, GEICO is making a valiant effort to ensure each teen driver in the nation has the education and resources they need to become safe drivers of the future. The organization is doing this by initiating a new interactive portal that reaches out to teens, and their parents, through live presentations, free resources and partnerships with peer organizations. GEICOTeenDriving.com connects teens with teens, involves parents and encourages feedback to the company.
GEICOTeenDriving.com aims to educate teen drivers by speaking "their" language. The site provides videos, brochure downloads and instructions on getting a driver's license. All the tip sheets and brochures found on the site can be obtained in a hard copy form, free of cost, from GEICO. GEICOTeenDriving.com also directly links to YouTube for young comedy videos about driving, in addition to open video blogs made by a variety of YouTube "celebrities" like NDTitanLady, TayZonday and Household Hacker. And, you can't speak to teens digitally unless you're on Facebook. GEICO's teen driver site also links to a Facebook page, where 121 people have so far joined the "GEICO wants you to be a safer driver" cause. The site also encourages teen/parent interaction when it comes to driving. Offered on GEICOTeenDriving.com is a downloadable contract that aims to get parents and teens to sit down to lay out the rules of driving, personalizing it to their own household needs. Parents looking for more detailed information regarding car insurance rates and coverage once their teenager becomes a driver can still just as easily go to GEICO's main page, GEICO.com, for all the information they may need. There they will find information on driving a safe car, safety belt use and realistic consequences of drug and alcohol use.
GEICO's latest involvement in teen driving isn't limited to online media. The company's grassroots Speakers Bureau is active in school presentations across the country. GEICO's "Real Teen Driving" video is included in this presentation, showing how teen drivers make mistakes when learning to drive. It also addresses many causes of those new teen driver mistakes, like fatigue or substance abuse, so that teens can avoid them.
"Teens are an important audience for us to reach," said Janice Minshall, GEICO assistant vice president. "It's important to break through to new drivers early to have the most impact on their driving behavior later on." GEICO is a company dedicated to not only offering premium car insurance (along with other insurance), but also works hard to educated drivers of all levels and ages. The GEICO Education Foundation, which funds the new teen program, extends education to the public about traffic and highway safety.
