Toyota And Discovery Education Challenge Teachers And Students To
Help Teens Stay Safe Behind The Wheel
SILVER SPRING, Md.,
Oct. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota and Discovery
Education today announced that the Toyota Teen Driver Video
Challenge and Toyota Teen Driver Educators' Challenge
are now open for entries. These challenges invite teens and their
teachers to share their most creative ideas to help promote teen
safe driving habits. Entries for both programs are due by
Feb. 14, 2013.
Motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of death for
teens. In fact, current research shows that 35% of all teen
deaths are a result of car crashes -- more than cancer, suicide,
heart disease and homicide combined. To address this challenge,
Toyota and Discovery Education teamed up in 2010 to create
Toyota Teen Driver, a comprehensive program and
online destination providing safe-driving tools and resources to
educators, students and parents.
Safe Driving Programs for Both Teens and Teachers
The Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge encourages
students to create and develop an original video describing what
they can do in their communities to help make their peers and
themselves safer drivers. The top ten videos will be chosen by a
panel of experts for their originality and compelling content,
followed by a public voting period on ToyotaTeenDriver.com to
select the winner. The first, second and third place winners will
receive $15,000, $10,000 and $7,500
cash prizes, respectively. In addition, Discovery Channel film
crews will visit the top three students' hometowns to hear their
stories and capture their visions for safer driving for pieces that
will air on ToyotaTeenDriver.com and additional Discovery online
properties. The seven runners-up will each receive $1,000. The Video Challenge is open
to students in grades 9-12.
Recognizing that educators also play a key role in ensuring
teens stay safe on the road, Toyota and Discovery Education have
also opened applications for the 2013 Toyota Teen Driver
Educators' Challenge. For this
Challenge, educators are asked to create innovative action
plans for keeping students safe on the roads. The grand prize
winner will receive a 4 day trip for two to Washington, D.C., to attend a safe-driving
conference and a $10,000 cash prize.
In addition, that teacher's school will be awarded a Virtual Driver
Interactive simulator and a safe-driving assembly, led by Toyota
Teen Driver experts. The second place winner will receive a
$5,000 cash prize and a driving
simulator and safe-driving assembly for their school.
"At Toyota, we are deeply committed to the notion that everyone
deserves to be safe," said Patricia Salas
Pineda, Toyota's group vice president of National
Philanthropy and the Toyota USA
Foundation. "We are glad to be working with Discovery
Education to bring critical safety information to schools and
students across the country. This is an important commitment
for Toyota and a vital part of our efforts to help ensure that
drivers and passengers are safe at every phase of life."
In addition to Toyota Teen Driver, Toyota's work to help
keep teens safe on the road includes: Toyota Driving
Expectations, a free program for teens and their parents which
provides hands-on, real world defensive driving experiences;
groundbreaking safety research partnerships with major North
American research universities through the company's $50 million Collaborative Safety Research Center;
and national teen safe driving partnerships with DoSomething.org
and the National Safety Council. Toyota also has a national
program in place to help ensure safety for child passengers
(Buckle Up for Life) as well as a major partnership with
AARP to address driver safety for seniors. For more
information on some of these programs, please visit
http://www.toyotainaction.com/safety.
"Discovery Education is thrilled to continue our partnership
with Toyota to provide teachers, students and their families with
creative and engaging resources to keep teens safe behind the
wheel," said Mary Rollins, Discovery
Education vice president. "The Educators' Challenge and
Video Challenge, as well as the resources available on
ToyotaTeenDriver.com, provide a unique opportunity for teachers and
students to connect on and explore issues that transcend into their
everyday lives."
For more information about Toyota Teen Driver and the
challenges, visit http://toyotateendriver.com.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE: TM) established
operations in the United States in
1957 and currently operates 10 manufacturing plants. Toyota
directly employs over 30,000 in the U.S. and its investment here is
currently valued at more than $18
billion, including sales and manufacturing operations,
research and development, financial services and design.
Toyota is committed to being a good corporate citizen in the
communities where it does business and believes in supporting
programs with long-term sustainable results. Toyota supports
numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education,
the environment and safety. Since 1991, Toyota has contributed more
than $600 million to philanthropic
programs in the U.S.
For more information on Toyota's commitment to improving
communities nationwide, visit http://www.toyota.com/philanthropy.
About Discovery Education
Discovery Education
transforms classrooms, empowers teachers and captivates students by
providing high quality, dynamic, digital content for grades K-12
and community colleges. Powered by Discovery Communications
(NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the number one nonfiction media
company in the world, Discovery Education is the global leader in
standards-based digital media, professional development, assessment
tools and a passionate educator network to support districts in
accelerating student achievement. Discovery Education services like
Discovery Education streaming, Discovery Education Techbook
and Discovery Education Higher Ed, are in more than half of all US
schools and 35 countries around the world. Explore the future
of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.
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Contacts:
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Alana
Carchedi, Discovery Education
240-662-2572
alana_carchedi@discovery.com
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Luis
Rosero (Toyota)
202-607-9027
Luis_Rosero@tma.toyota.com
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SOURCE Toyota