The "Buckle Up, Driver Sober" roadway safety campaign being run by Youth of Virginia Speak Out About Traffic Safety and the Virginia State Police has 33 high schools participating, The Associated Press reports.

Students at these schools will develop projects to educate young drivers on the importance of seatbelt use and driving unimpaired by drugs and alcohol, the source reports, in a bid to encourage young drivers to develop long-term safe driving habits.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that, while the frequency of drinking and driving decreased by about 30 percent in the five-year period ending in 2010, drivers still got on the road while impaired by alcohol about 112 million times that year. In 2009, the agency estimates, alcohol-related accidents caused approximately 11,000 deaths, and drinking was a factor in about one-third of crash fatalities.

According to the safety campaign's sponsors, 427 teens have died in alcohol-related crashes since 2000, and most teens who die in highway accidents were not wearing their seatbelts.