Whenever Kathy Driver is behind the wheel with daughter Tarah, she knows she needs to be on her best behavior.

The 46-year-old Kaimuki mother of two has a habit of peeking at her cellphone when stopped at traffic lights.

That’s when Tarah will chime in.

"I’m very clear, like, ‘Mom. MOM!’" said the 16-year-old ‘Iolani School junior and reigning Miss Hawaii Outstanding Teen.

Safe driving has become a focus for the aptly named daughter and mother. They are graduates of Toyota’s TeenDrive365 experience, a traveling exhibition in which teens and parents go through a free 2 1/2-hour class about the dangers of distracted driving.

The free TeenDrive365 program is coming to Hawaii for the first time, on Nov. 8 and 9 at Aloha Stadium, with six sessions each day.

"Road safety is a connective, overall concern for every place," said Karen Polan, philanthropy manager at Toyota’s national office. "There’s probably not a state in the nation that hasn’t been affected by the devastating challenges of distracted driving and inexperienced drivers that need just a little bit more help."

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of drivers ages 15 to 19 involved in fatal crashes, 11 percent were reportedly distracted at the time of the wrecks — the highest proportion of any age group, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Representing the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen organization, Tarah traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., with her mother earlier this month to participate in a TeenDrive365 event held at the University of Michigan.

Because Tarah had been driving for only a couple of months, she was nervous. But she said the friendly instructors and being around other drivers her own age in a controlled environment helped make the experience a positive one.

That’s not to say there weren’t some scary moments.

In one activity, teens must drive through a course twice — once with distractions being thrown at them and another time without any distractions.

During the first run, the instructor in the passenger seat will try to engage the teen driver in conversation or get them to look at their cellphone. At one point during her turn, Tarah was startled when a man appeared alongside the car and started pounding on the windshield.

"It’s unrealistic that one would go through all those distractions in the same two-minute period," she said. "But really, you think about it, there’s just so many things that could go wrong out there. And so we learned what to do in any potential situation."

By doing the course twice, teens see just how such distractions can affect their driving.

"A lot of times they miss things like children/pedestrian crossings or the speed limit or a stop sign because they weren’t paying attention," said Polan. "We want to make them realize that distractions come in many forms."

While the program teaches teens how to be safer drivers, it also teaches parents how to be better teachers. Parents are instructed on how to use positive reinforcement instead of just barking orders while teaching their kids to drive.

Participants also are briefed on the latest safety techniques. For example, past generations have been told that drivers should place their hands in the 10-and-2 position on the wheel, referring to the hands on a clock, but the new recommendation is 9 and 3.

By going through the course with her daughter, Kathy Driver said she was reminded of the importance of improving her own safe-driving habits.

Of all the things she learned during the TeenDrive365 course, Tarah said the one thing that really left an impression was the triple threat of using a cellphone while driving. It’s a visual, manual and cognitive distraction that causes drivers to take their eyes off the road, hands off the wheel and mind off driving.

"Just realizing what one small piece of metal can have not only on your life, but everybody else who’s on the road with you, it puts the entire driving picture into perspective," she said.

Tarah’s become so passionate about advocating teen driving safety she is considering making that her platform should she continue on in the pageant world.

The TeenDrive365 class is not a substitute for Hawaii’s mandatory driver’s education class, but is meant as an effective aid to help promote safe driving among teens. Toyota is providing the vehicles. Teens must have either a learner’s permit or driver’s license and must sign up with a parent who will actively participate. And because teens will be driving during the class, it is recommended they have at least 20 hours of driving experience.