When a Teen Receives Their Driver’s License

New Series of Documentary Shorts from Toyota TeenDrive365 Explores the Emotional Rite of Passage

When a Teen Receives Their Driver’s License

 

Excitement. Fear. Loss of Control. Pride. Every parent of a teenager can relate to the

rollercoaster of emotions that occurs when their child receives their driver’s license.

In a new series of documentary shorts, Toyota has partnered with three award-winning Getty Images Reportage

photojournalists to explore this major rite of passage through the experiences of three families in Los Angeles, Boston

and St. Petersburg, Fla. The series is part of TeenDrive365, Toyota’s comprehensive teen safety initiative that helps

parents and teens become safer drivers together. You can watch the videos at www.TeenDrive365.com.

“As the mother of two teenagers, I understand first-hand the range of emotions that parents can experience when their

teen receives their driver’s license,” said Marjorie Schussel, Corporate Marketing Director for Toyota. “Even though the

families featured in Toyota’s TeenDrive365 series all have unique stories to share, the common thread is that each parent

is deeply involved in their teen’s journey to get their license.”

In the video shorts, a teenager’s new driver’s license represents different things for each family:

In Boston, the Rabinowitz family’s story highlights the excitement – and the tension – that can accompany this rite

of passage. Teenager Erez is eager to get his license, while his parents are more reflective, hoping that he will not

text and drive as they both do. This milestone is especially complicated for Erez’s father, who survived a

life-altering car crash as a child that badly injured his parents.

In St. Petersburg, Fla., teenager De’Qonton’s new license represents freedom, achievement and the opportunity to

broaden his life experiences. His parents share a mixture of pride and measured caution, while his younger

brother has a new reason to aspire to be more like him.

In Los Angeles, the Vaught family’s story poignantly explores the ways in which teenage daughter Chloe’s new

license helps her parents begin to view her as an adult, such as when she drives her mother to her grandmother’s

funeral.

The shorts were created by award-winning Getty Images Reportage photojournalists Sara Lewkowicz, (St. Petersburg,)

Ben Lowy (Los Angeles) and Shaul Schwarz (Boston).

The new series builds on TeenDrive365’s other resources, which include online tools, expert advice, local events and

social media that help parents model safer driving behaviors for their children. The focus on parents as role models is

based on research from a national study from Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) and the University

of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The study found a significant correlation between how parents

and their teens drive, suggesting that parents are the biggest influence on how a teen will behave behind the wheel.

Since Toyota TeenDrive365’s launch in November 2013, millions of people have engaged with its online and in-person

resources. Earlier this year, the program introduced a new distracted driving simulator that uses Oculus Rift, the latest

virtual reality technology, to bring the dangers of distracted driving to life for parents and teens.

The new campaign was developed in partnership with digital agency 360i and Getty Images Reportage. This

collaboration marks the first time Getty Images Reportage has partnered with a brand to produce a series of short form

multimedia documentaries.

To learn more about the resources offered through Toyota TeenDrive365, go to www.TeenDrive365.com.