Attention teen drivers! The 19th Annual Bucks County High School Seatbelt Safety Challenge, organized by TMA Bucks and presented by NJM Insurance Group, is officially underway! Kicking off during National Teen Driver Safety Week, this year’s challenge once again invites high schools across Bucks County to compete for the highest seatbelt usage rates. Plus, the popular Teen Driver Safety Video PSA Challenge powered by Comcast is back, giving students another chance to showcase their creativity and commitment to safe driving.
Baseline surveys of student driver seatbelt use have been conducted at every public and private high school in Bucks County. Surveys were conducted safely and without the knowledge of the student body or administration in order to ensure the most accurate data sampling. Each school’s result is being forwarded to them with an invitation to participate in the challenge.
“Our Bucks County High School Seatbelt Safety Challenge continues to be an outstanding success, with every high school once again surpassing 80 percent seatbelt compliance for the third straight year,” said TMA Bucks executive director Stephen J. Noll. “We’re incredibly proud to see such strong, consistent results! The combined average compliance rate has now topped 90 percent in eight of the last nine fall surveys. That’s a remarkable achievement and a true reflection of the commitment, leadership, and responsibility demonstrated by our student drivers. Their dedication to making safe choices behind the wheel is making a real difference in their schools and communities. We’re confident they’ll continue raising the bar and inspiring even more of their peers to buckle up every time they drive through participating in our program.”
The Bucks County High School Seatbelt Safety Challenge encourages participating high schools to raise their student driver seatbelt usage over the course of the year as various student groups at each school work to actively promote seatbelt use within the student body using posters, t-shirts, school-wide announcements and other creative messages. In spring, an unannounced follow-up survey is conducted at each of the participating schools. The school with the highest overall percentage in seatbelt use and the school with the greatest percentage increase in seatbelt use are both awarded with perpetual trophy plaques and $500 cash grants for safety-related use by the school.
Back again this year as part of the initiative is the Teen Driver Safety Video PSA Challenge powered by Comcast. As part of the Seatbelt Challenge, all Bucks County high schools have the opportunity to produce and submit a 30-second video PSA on teen driver safety. It can deal with any aspect including seatbelts, texting, distracted driving, speeding, or impaired driving. The school selected as the winner will get a $500 cash grant and their video will play on Comcast networking. Videos must be uploaded to YouTube with the link emailed to dave@bctma.com by April 10, 2026 to be eligible to win.
NJM Insurance Group is the presenting sponsor this year with supporting sponsorships coming from AAA Mid-Atlantic, Automotive Training Center, Bucks County Community College, Jefferson Bucks Hospital, Bowman, Stark & Stark, Rothman Orthopedics, and Visit Bucks County.
“NJM is proud to support the TMA Bucks High School Seatbelt Safety Challenge and help empower young drivers to make safe decisions behind the wheel,” said Erica Rosso, NJM consumer safety partnership and program supervisor. “Buckling up is one of the simplest and most effective ways to stay safe, and we’re committed to reinforcing that message.”
The TMA Bucks Community Traffic Safety Program has free programming available to all Bucks County high schools on any highway safety topic such as distracted driving, impaired driving, seatbelt safety, pedestrian safety, and bicycle safety. Please reach out to Carly Wible at carly@bctma.com for more information or to schedule programming.
