The NH Youth Operator Program partners with schools across New Hampshire to provide engaging, evidence-based traffic safety education and resources for students. Our goal is to help young drivers develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to make safe choices behind the wheel.
We recognize there is no single approach to promoting safe teen driving. That’s why the Youth Operator Program offers a variety of educational programs from interactive assemblies, classroom resources, or statewide safety initiatives, we offer several programs designed to meet students where they are and promote lifelong safe driving habits.
Our programs address topics such as distracted driving, impaired driving, seat belt use, driver inexperience, decision-making, media influence, and other factors that can affect young drivers.
Explore the programs below to learn more.
The Save a Life Tour brings an interactive, hands-on approach to teen driver safety education. The program uses driving simulators and other interactive experiences to help students understand the risks associated with unsafe driving.
The program focuses on issues such as distracted driving and impaired driving and encourages students to think about how their decisions behind the wheel can affect themselves, their passengers, and others on the road.
The New Hampshire Youth Operator Program partners with Matrix Entertainment to bring this program FREE to New Hampshire middle and high schools.
Learn More About the Save a Life Tour
ThinkFast interactive combines traffic safety education with an energetic, team-based Jeopardy game format that encourages students to actively participate.
Students answer questions, consider real-world driving situations, learn about traffic safety laws and risks, and participate in interactive activities designed to reinforce safe driving behaviors.
The program uses peer engagement, audience participation, social-norm activities, and scenario-based challenges to make traffic safety education more engaging for students.
Learn More About ThinkFast Interactive
New Hampshire Driving Toward Zero is the state’s effort to eliminate fatal and serious-injury crashes on New Hampshire roadways.
The Youth Operator Program helps connect schools and young drivers with the adolescent driver safety component of this statewide initiative. Students can learn how their choices behind the wheel contribute to the larger goal of creating safer roads for everyone. →
Learn More About Driving Toward Zero
This is a free program for high school health classes that aims at breaking down the misconceptions students have about driving while under the influence of marijuana. The students get to experience the cognitive impairment through the impairment goggles and doing basic tasks like throwing a ball. This program allows students to have honest conversations on what they believe about operating a vehicle while high and to understand what the risks are. The curriculum of this program covers details on the adolescent brain development impacts, impairment simulations, and legal consequences.
Learn More About AAA Shifting Gears
We encourage all schools to allow us to invite local law enforcement, regional substance misuse and prevention members, and other community resources. This partnership allows the youth to interact with the resources they have in their community, ask questions, and receive information to take home to continue to learn about safety.
Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, and teen drivers face a higher risk of being involved in a crash because of inexperience, distractions, nighttime driving, passengers, speeding, and impaired driving. The good news is that many of these risks are preventable, and education, practice, supervision, and positive driving habits can make a real difference.
New Hampshire’s own data show why continued education and prevention are so important. According to the 2023 New Hampshire Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).
You can find more on the YRBS data at the NH DHHS Data Portal here.
That’s why we do these programs.
Our goal is to give New Hampshire teens the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to make safer decisions behind the wheel. We want young drivers to understand that safe driving isn’t just about passing a road test—it’s about making responsible choices every time they get behind the wheel. A decision that takes only a few seconds, such as buckling a seat belt, putting the phone away, or choosing a safe ride home, can have a lifetime impact.
To learn more or request a program for your school contact:
