By Emma Murphy, Oklahoma Voice
EDMOND — A required work zone safety course for Oklahoma teen drivers is expanding to include an impaired driving section, the program’s founder said Monday at a driving school in Edmond.
Tom Robins, the founder of Work Zone Safe, said impaired driving is 100% preventable and now students will learn about the impacts. More than 400 lives in Oklahoma are lost every year due to impaired driving-related crashes, according to a news release.
“Impaired driving impacts us all, and it impacts us forever,” he said. “And so we know that teens during National Teen Driver Safety Week are going to get an opportunity now in the state of Oklahoma to have a section just specifically on impaired driving so that they can learn from the faces and families behind the flags and the flashing lights.”
Taking the course is required in Oklahoma since it became part of state law in 2023, Robins said. Over 110,000 Oklahoma teens have taken the free course.
The impaired driving section of the course will include stories of a handful of people killed by an impaired driver, including an Edmond police officer and a student at University of Central Oklahoma.
Students will also be taught about the impact of driving while impaired.
Some short-term effects include arrest, fines, jail time, license suspension and raised insurance costs, according to a news release. Long-term consequences include having a criminal record, prison sentences and limited job opportunities.
Work Zone Safe is currently required in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin but is expanding to other states, Robins said. Oklahoma was the first state to require the course.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Eric Foster, who was hit by an impaired driver in 2021, said he’s experienced first-hand what can happen when someone operating a vehicle doesn’t make good decisions.
He said if the impaired driver hadn’t hit his stationary car, 10 people in a work zone could have been killed.
“It’s not just about passing a test,” Foster said. “It’s about learning how serious the privilege of driving is. Because every time you start your car, you hold the power to protect or to destroy your parents, your friends, your community. We’re all counting on you to be the kind of driver who pays attention, who plans ahead, who chooses safety over speed, and responsibility over recklessness.”
