Flanked by campus administrators and educators, a group of Concordia University Texas students presented a new program Sept. 30 to promote impaired driving awareness on the college campus.

Impaired driving includes drugs, alcohol, texting and other risks associated with driving. In 2012, more high school seniors reported driving while under the influence of drugs than those driving while alcohol-impaired, according to a news release.

Concordia University Texas partnered with the Texas Department of Transportation to implement U in the Driver Seat, a program that promotes students advocating safe driving habits directly to their peers instead of using other initiatives to convey the message, said Russell Henk, Program Manager for the Center for Transportation Safety, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, or TTI. TTI created the U in the Driver Seat program in 2012 and it is currently used on 12 Texas college campuses, he said.

The program also advocates that drivers adopt a Designated Unimpaired Driver Extraordinaire, or DUDE, said Frank Saenz, TxDOT Traffic Safety Alcohol and Other Drugs Program manager. The idea is to designate a driver while going out to ensure the driver and others make it home safely, he said.

"The goal is to reduce the number of college-age students involved in car crashes, including those in impaired driving [crashes]," Saenz said.

Students participating in Concordia's U in the Driver Seat program will be leading simulated impaired driving stations and spreading word of the program during October—Concordia's designated safety month, Concordia student Xzavier Beacham said.

"We're going to use [peer pressure] to keep each other safe," he said. "We're using peer pressure to save lives."