Survive the 5 - A 5K Run/Walk Benefitting The ART of Driving

Learn more about The ART of Driving

Learn more and register for the 5K Run Walk

Lives change in an instant.

Ashley Renee Thompson, 16, died in a single-vehicle crash on her way to school in June 2003. She was alone in the car, on a road she knew well, and not under the influence of any substances.

Left behind, a grieving family tries to make sense of their sudden loss.

Ashley’s mother, Robin Thompson, an advice nurse at the Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States clinical call center, chose to honor her daughter’s memory by creating something positive from the tragedy.

“Ashley had a wisdom about her, a gift for seeing something positive in everybody and every situation,” Robin explains. “I learned more from her than she did from me. She taught me to always look at my glass as half full.”

Within three months of Ashley’s death, Robin was talking to students in driver’s education classes, doing her part to combat what Robin— and the Centers for Disease Control and the National Safety Council— emphasize is a public health crisis.

Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15 to 20 year olds, more than homicide, suicide, drugs, or alcohol combined. Six thousand teens are killed in vehicle crashes each year, with another 300,000 seriously injured or permanently disabled. Only 25 percent of such fatalities are due to alcohol.

Robin’s focus is on what causes more than 70 percent of the accidents, with inexperience and distractions leading the list.

“As a mother and a health provider, those statistics are unacceptable to me,” Robin states. And so The ART of Driving was created.

The ART of Driving is the educational outreach program of the Ashley Renee Thompson Memorial Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to make teens and parents more aware of the unique risks faced by young, novice drivers and to advocate for improvements in driver education.

Robin’s own background and education guided her down the right path to establishing the evidence-based program. She started by researching, attending and presenting at symposiums of the National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Department of Transportation, talking to experts, and studying examples of successful wellness and safety programs on topics such as smoking cessation and seatbelt use. As a result, The ART of Driving is strongly rooted in behavioral science. It involves educating teens and parents about risks and empowering them to take ownership of the problem. This is accomplished through three separate education programs Robin developed: one for teens, one for parents, and one for the ART of Driving Teen Task Force.

“It was important to me to fully understand the issue and to ensure the program was evidence based,” Robin explains.

“As health care providers, we are in a key position to make a difference and provide prevention messages to adolescents and their parents. A lasting legacyof LOVE I believe knowledge is power. The more teens and parents know, the better choices they can make.”

Robin shares her message with anyone who will listen, and she’s been fortunate to do so via “The Today Show,” and local and regional radio and TV programs.

She presents her program at high schools, youth groups, conferences, and civic events. “My goal is for this to become a national awareness program.” Well on its way to achieving that goal, The ART of Driving received the 2009 Governor’s Transportation Safety Award for Youth Traffic Safety in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Each year, the foundation also awards a college scholarship to a graduating senior at Lake Braddock High in Burke, VA, Ashley’s alma mater. “All teens should have the chance to fulfill their dreams and achieve their goals,” Robin says.

Robin believes health care providers have an opportunity and obligation to help create a culture of traffic safety. “When we elevate traffic safety to a societal value, we’ll know we’ve made headway. Every teen deserves to ‘thrive.’

Advice nurse Robin Thompson, RN, BSN, MEd, NBCSN, is the founder and director of The ART of Driving. Now also a full-time school nurse in Alexandria City Schools, Robin previously served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force.

Learn more about The ART of Driving

Learn more and register for the 5K Run/Walk

You can reach Robin at robin@theartofdriving.org