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Steamboat Springs — Making smart decisions and understanding how decisions can affect others is a key component of any high school education, but especially so when the teenager is behind the wheel of a car. To help students reduce their risk of having accidents, the Alive At 25 program will offer three classes in Steamboat Springs during the coming months.

The courses, organized by the Colorado State Patrol Family Foundation, teaches students that they are responsible for everything that happens in their cars, said Deb Funston, one of the instructors.

The course, held at Steamboat Springs High School on Aug. 6, 21 and Sept. 8, is less than five hours long and includes lessons on defensive driving, the impacts of drugs and alcohol, responsibility and good decision-making.

According to the foundation's statistics, one in five first-year drivers are involved in crashes, and accidents are the top killer of teenagers.

Funston, who also works as the public information officer for Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue and was a police officer for two decades before that, including service in which she worked with teens in Steamboat Springs High School, said the program has been effective in keeping Steamboat teens safe.

"We're very fortunate that we haven't had a lot of young people getting killed here. I attribute that to the fact that many young people have to go through this program," she said.

State Trooper Joy Grissom, the national training director for Alive At 25, said the program has been effective across the state.

"What's pretty impressive about the program is that it's making a difference in the commitment of the students to safe driving," she said. "Over the past 12 years we've been doing this and we've seen a remarkable decrease in fatalities."

The program is taught at 50 locations across Colorado.

In 2007, 116 young drivers were killed in Colorado accidents. Eighty-six of them were not wearing seatbelts.

Funston said she has seen the effects of the program even as she drives across town.

"I'll be driving down the road and there's a kid who knows me and he's pointing to his seatbelt to say, 'Hey, I have my seatbelt on,'" she said.

The course also can help students who are 15 1/2 years old earn their licenses.

- To reach Zach Fridell, call 871-4208

or e-mail zfridell@steamboatpilot.com