The Illinois Department of Transportation today announced that Mater Dei Catholic High School is one of 105 Illinois high schools that has been selected to participate in the 2011-2012 Operation Teen Safe Driving (OTSD) program. This statewide safety initiative is designed for teens to educate their peers about driving responsibly in an effort to decrease the number of fatalities and injuries involving teenagers in Illinois.

The selection process for the Operation Teen Safe Driving program requires students to identify issues relating to traffic safety in their community (i.e., underage drinking, driving unbuckled, impaired and/or distracted). Students are required to provide information explaining how they would combat the traffic safety problem and implement a teen awareness program in their school and community.

All of the selected schools will receive $2,000 in grant funding from IDOT’s Division of Traffic Safety, The Allstate Foundation and The Ford Motor Company Fund. The selected schools develop and implement a peer-to-peer based program and present a report at the conclusion of the program. Winners are selected from each region and each winning school will receive prize money to host a post-prom event.

The Mater Dei Student Council submitted its application for the OTSD grant and will implement its strategies throughout the remainder of the school year.