Kentlake High School has been selected to participate in a national Driving Skills for Life teen driver safety tour.

Established in 2003 by the Ford Motor Company Fund, the Governors Highway Safety Association and a panel of safety experts, Ford Driving Skills for Life teaches newly licensed teens the necessary skills for safe driving beyond what they learn in standard driver education programs.

More than 3,000 teens, ages 15-19, are killed on American roads each year, according to government statistics. Specifically, the majority of these crashes are attributed to inexperience in four key skills: driver distraction, speed/space management, vehicle handling and hazard recognition.

In Washington state, drivers age 20 and younger were involved in more than 23,000 crashes in 2010, resulting in 72 fatalities and nearly 8,000 injuries, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Kentlake High School students will have the opportunity to gain hands-on driving experience with professional drivers that will equip the students with fundamental skills necessary for safe driving. Former professional racecar driver Mike Speck will lead the hands-on driver training sessions.