Teen Safe Driving

The Safe Mobility Project wants to keep teens safe on the roads of Summit County. The Safe Mobility Project, a collaboration between Akron Children’s Hospital and the Goodyear Foundation provides educational programs to promote safe driving practices in teenagers throughout Medina, Portage, Summit, and Stark Counties.

The Safe Mobility Project is pleased to offer SIDNE, a go-cart teaching tool that delivers impaired and distracted driving experiences. SIDNE demonstrates the impact of alcohol, marijuana, drowsiness, and distractions on a person's driving abilities.

Participants feel the simulated impact of impairment on their ability to drive. They also experience riding in a vehicle when the driver's ability to operate the vehicle is impaired.

The Safe Mobility Program also offers Teen Safe Driving Program (TSDP), a multifaceted program that can be offered in varying settings. The program includes the following activities:

  • PowerPoint presentation
  • An interactive learning experience
  • Anonymous student reporting about dangerous experience in the cars they are riding in
  • Virtual Reality (VR) distracted driving headsets

If you are interested in having SIDNE or the Teen Safe Driving Program at your school event, contact Erica Dovin at edovin@akronchildrens.org or 330-543-8942. All inquiries/requests will be evaluated to determine eligibility. All inquiries/requests will be evaluated to determine eligibility.

In Ohio, every person under the age of 18 seeking a driver's license must follow the Graduated Driver's Licensing process. The GDL is designed to minimize crashes and includes restrictions on driving at night and driving with non-family passengers. More information about the Ohio GDL can be found here.

Distracted driving is a rising cause of accidents in Summit County and nationwide. This includes driving while using a cell phone, drinking coffee, changing radio stations, or anything else that takes eyes off the road.


Approximately one in four fatal accidents involves cell phone distraction.

Talking on the phone makes you four times more likely to cause an accident. This means it is as dangerous as driving drunk.

The average text message takes a driver’s eyes off the road for five seconds. In this amount of time, a car moving 55 mph will travel the length of a football field.

This video is best viewed with a VR cardboard viewer. If viewed without viewer, use mouse to utilize 360 degree views.