About the Workshop
Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI) and Association of Peer Program Professionals (APPP) PROTECT program equips School Resource Officers (SROs) to engage teens in changing campus culture around distracted driving and speeding. Through interactive training, SROs learn to apply behavior change theories and interventions that reduce serious and fatal teen car crashes. Participants will gain tools to empower youth as peer advocates for safer driving behaviors on high school campuses through peer-to-peer outreach and messaging. SROs will be given training, tools, and support to accomplish this objective.
Workshop Details
- Dates: July 14-16, 2026
- Location: 1100 NW Loop 410, San Antonio, TX
- Time: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily
- Registration: Complete the form below to register
- Contact: Stacey Tisdale, [email protected]
Who Should Attend
This pilot workshop is for San Antonio Area School Resource Officers. We are expanding this program in the future – please let us know you are interested, and we will keep you informed. I added an interest form for future workshops: https://www.tfaforms.com/5212683.
What You Will Learn
- Risks of distracted driving and speeding
- Shared risk and protective factors
- Motivating behavior change
- Communication skills with teens
- Positive Youth Development messaging
- Peer programming strategies
- Program planning and evaluation
- Association of Peer Program Professionals (APPP) Standards & Ethics
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the training, participants will:
- Facilitate youth-led initiatives to change campus norms around safe driving.
- Empower teens to advocate for positive behaviors.
- Apply APPP Standards & Ethics in peer programming.
- Develop and implement a campus Action Plan.
- Use evaluation tools for reporting and improvement.
Agenda Highlights
Day 1: Foundations – Risk factors, behavior change, communication skills
Day 2: Teaching & facilitation – Sample lessons, peer engagement strategies
Day 3: Program planning – Teens in the Driver Seat, ethics, evaluation, next steps
Credits
- TCOLE Credits: PENDING
- College Credits available
About the Project
Distracted driving and speeding are two main causes of teen car crashes that result in serious and fatal injuries daily on our roads. Evidence suggests that these behaviors can be reduced through interventions that utilize a shared risk and protective factor (SRPF) approach, which focuses on improving multiple quality-of-life outcomes, positively impacts health, and engages partners across various disciplines and sectors. A new initiative will be developed and delivered in partnership with Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Youth Transportation Safety Program (YTS) and Center for Alcohol and Drug Education Studies (CADES), and the National Association of Peer Program Professionals in a partnership that will include a Shared Risk and Protective Factors (SRPF)-informed training course for School Resource Officers (SROs) to enhance their work communicating and engaging teens. The team will make connections within this community, access knowledge, develop training and evaluations for future implementation, with the ultimate goal of developing tools and support to educate SROs and change campus culture around distracted driving and speeding.
This objective supports TxDOT in raising awareness of the dangers of distracted driving for the delivery of the messages and reducing the incidence of speed-related fatal and serious injury crashes through increased education and community training among youth, who, on average, represent 12% of all persons involved in fatal crashes. Fatal crashes linked to speeding and distracted driving account for a substantial 82% of these fatalities.
Training will cover identifying SRPF related to distracted driving and speeding, and how to engage teens to promote healthier outcomes; enhancing communication skills with teens, including identifying factors present in an individual’s familial unit, community, relationships, or society, and promoting positive messages to promote norms that promote safe driving practices; and increasing access to community-based youth programs.
This endeavor harnesses the efforts of SROs and other partners within school districts to encourage healthy norms and develops positive SRO and Teen relationships with the common goal of decreasing distracted driving and speeding occurrences; develops teen helpers and leaders to create positive peer influences, contributes positively to teen development, utilizes proven strategies rarely used in traffic safety, and develops a model which can be expanded and implemented within any geographical area.
Evaluation of this project will measure the number of SROs trained, the number of workshops, and training results with pre- and post-evaluations measuring workshop effectiveness, implementation successes, and lessons learned.
The project is designed to be implemented within other regions throughout the U.S.
This work is being supported by the Texas Department of Transportation, General Motors, and State Farm. Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Youth Transportation Safety Program and Center for Alcohol and Drug Education Studies have partnered with the Association of Peer Program Professionals to develop and implement this training and programming support.