Transportation Safety in Adolescence

August 4, 2026 updated by: Catherine McDonald, University of Pennsylvania

Promoting Transportation Safety in Adolescence

The proposed project will focus on improving teen driver safety as motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and injury to adolescents. If successful, research findings will lead to clear strategies to reduce motor vehicle crashes.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

2216

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

16 years to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Teens between 16 and 17 years and 4 months (17.33 years) of age
  • Pennsylvania state learner's permits
  • Will have their Pennsylvania state learner's permit for at least 6 months (self-report)
  • Self-report of less than 10 hours of behind-the-wheel driving experience.
  • Teen and parent/caregiver fluent in written and spoken English
  • Access to at least one practice vehicle
  • Email address and internet access to complete study procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Teens with self-reported or parent reported (of teen's) visual, medical, or physical impairments that would require a handicap placard or assistive device to drive.
  • Teens with pervasive developmental delays
  • Have a sibling enrolled in this study
  • Enrolled in other teen driving studies

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Parent-Teen Intervention
Parent health coaching session and supportive materials, teen on road driver assessment with feedback.
Behavioral: Parent-Teen Intervention
Parent health coaching and resources + teen on-road driver experience + safe driving eLearning Modules
Other: Usual Practice
Other: Usual Practice
Standard care for teens who get licensed in the state of PA

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Police-reported motor vehicle crashes
Time Frame: Licensure to 12 months after licensure
Time to first motor vehicle crash
Licensure to 12 months after licensure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Self-reported motor vehicle crashes
Time Frame: First 6 months of licensure
First 6 months of licensure

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quantity of Practice Driving
Time Frame: At baseline, +3 months, and at driver licensure
Hours of driving practice by driving environment (1-5, higher score indicates more diversity)
At baseline, +3 months, and at driver licensure
Frequency of parent-teen communication about traffic safety driving topics Scale (e.g., GDL)
Time Frame: At driver licensure
0-3, higher scores indicate more communication
At driver licensure
Parental limit-setting on post-license driving Scale
Time Frame: At driver licensure and at 3, 6, and 12 months of driver licensure
1-5, higher score indicates stronger limit-setting
At driver licensure and at 3, 6, and 12 months of driver licensure
Risky driving behavior scale
Time Frame: At 3, 6, and 12 months of driver licensure
1-5, higher score indicates riskier driving
At 3, 6, and 12 months of driver licensure
Driving Avoidance
Time Frame: At 3, 6, and 12 months of driver licensure
Driving Habits Questionnaire, 1-5 higher score indicates more avoidance
At 3, 6, and 12 months of driver licensure

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Pennsylvania

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
University of Edinburgh

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Catherine McDonald, PhD, RN, FAAN, UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA
  • Principal Investigator: Jessica Mirman, PhD, University of Edinburgh
  • Principal Investigator: Leann Long, PhD, Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 18, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 18, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 17, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 17, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

August 21, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 4, 2026

Last Verified

October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB-834765
  • R01HD095248 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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