FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 19, 2025
DMV AND TRAVELERS ANNOUNCE WINNERS IN TEEN SAFE DRIVING VIDEO CONTEST
Videos help raise awareness about teen driver safety
HARTFORD – The Department of Motor Vehicles and Travelers announced the winning high schools in their jointly sponsored 16th annual Teen Safe Driving Video Contest. The videos focused on educating teens on how to be safer drivers to prevent crashes, injuries and deaths.
- First place goes to a student team at Daniel Hand High School in Madison.
- Runner up goes to a student at New Canaan High School.
- Additional award-winning schools and student teams were: Daniel Hand High School, Hall High School (West Hartford), Nonnewaug High School (Woodbury), New Canaan High School and Suffield High School.
The announcement was made recently at Travelers headquarters in Hartford at a ceremony to honor all award recipients. This year’s video contest theme was: “Driving Safe Habits.”
“Engaging teens in initiatives like this is important because younger drivers are statistically more inclined to be involved in crashes, some of which could be fatal,” Governor Ned Lamont said. “I want to congratulate all of the students who participated and helped spread this important message.”
The video contest encourages teens in high schools statewide to think about decisions that could cause a crash. More than 300 students from 20 schools participated and submitted 125 videos.
DMV Commissioner Antonio “Tony” Guerrera was House chair of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Transportation Committee in 2008. He helped lead the effort to change state laws to increase safety for teen drivers – including no friends in the vehicle for the first year a teen is licensed and a nighttime driving curfew of 11 p.m.
“We want teens to be part of the solution when it comes to getting the word out about the importance of safe driving,” Commissioner Guerrera said. “This contest gets our youngest drivers involved with their talents and creativity. This year’s winning videos were an amazing display of video production skills. Thank you to Travelers for co-sponsoring the contest and congratulations to all who participated.”
Travelers awarded the winning students and their high schools over $20,000 in cash and other prizes. For the first-place award, Daniel High School received $5,000 and the two student winners split $1,250.
“As advocates for roadway safety, we are pleased to congratulate the winners of the Teen Safe Driving Video Contest for their impactful submissions,” said Bob O’Leary, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Integrated Marketing at Travelers. “These creative videos from the students highlight the importance of responsible driving and encourage everyone to make good choices on the road.”
These videos will be used to raise teens’ safety awareness through peer-to-peer conversation. For instance, the videos will be featured in advertising by the state Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Governor’s Highway Safety Office. DOT is a leader in the state in preventative measures to stop distracted driving.
View the first-place and runner-up videos:
First place
School: Daniel Hand High School
Students: Sahil Bhatt, Calvin Davies and Nathaniel Konstantino
Watch here
Runner up
School: New Canaan High School
Student: Maggie Marshall
Watch here
To watch all the 2025 award-winning videos, visit the CT DMV’s YouTube channel.
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