The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and the Shepherd Center in Buckhead have launched a free app that aims to teach teenagers safe driving practices.
The Shepherd Center partnered with GOHS with the goal of reducing car crashes and spinal cord and brain injuries, which the rehabilitation hospital located on Peachtree Road specializes in, according to a press release.
The free app, called AutoCoach, is available for iPhones and Androids.
It tracks driving training hours, as well as night driving hours, which in Georgia is a prerequisite for obtaining a driver’s license.
“With motor vehicle crashes being the leading cause of death for teens in our country, we must make sure our youngest drivers receive the proper training before they get behind the wheel,” Harris Blackwood, the director of the Office of Highway Safety, said in a press release.
The app’s features include quizzes, a driving log and a 10-chapter curriculum with lessons on basic topics, including adjusting mirrors, seats and tire pressure, and the difference between double yellow and dotted yellow lines, as well as complex driving skills, such as merging onto crowded highways, driving around 18-wheelers and safely recovering from an overcorrection.
The AutoCoach curriculum was developed by Shepherd Center’s certified driver rehabilitation specialists, who specialize in adaptive equipment and vehicles, the press release said.