ALGONQUIN -- Jacobs High School in Algonquin is one of 105 high schools statewide chosen to participate in the Illinois Department of Transportation's 2009-2010 Operation Teen Safe Driving program.

The statewide safety initiative is designed for teens to educate their peers about driving responsibly in an effort to decrease the number of fatalities and injuries involving teenagers in Illinois. Selected schools, including Jacobs, will receive $2,000 in grant funding from IDOT's Division of Traffic Safety and the Allstate Foundation to develop such a program in their schools.

This is the third year of the program at Jacobs.

In that time, program advisor and driver's education teacher Eliseo Saldivar said, "It's amazing what the kids can do."

During National Teen Safe Drivers Week last week, the group of about 45 Jacobs students collected signatures on a banner reading, "I pledge to drive safely." They also pulled a percentage of students from class to show how many teenagers are killed each year in car accidents.

That's 60 Illinois teens ages 16 to 19 from Jan. 1 to Oct. 10 of this year, according to IDOT. The numbers are down from last year, when 67 teenagers died in car accidents in the state.

Jacobs students also held cell phone and seat belt checks in the school parking lot, as they do periodically.

Four years ago, at the school's first check, only 70 percent of students were wearing seat belts. Last week, it was about 93 percent, according to Saldivar.

One of Operation Teen Safe Driving's most memorable seat belt checks was to benefit the community, held in the school's parking lot during a basketball game between Jacobs and rival Dundee-Crown High School. The Algonquin Police Department, Kane County Sheriff's Department and Illinois State Police helped conduct the check.

"Our superintendent drove up and saw the state, local and county police, and he thought we had a riot going on," Saldivar said.

Next up, students taking part in Operation Teen Safe Driving at Jacobs are planning to write a book, the teacher said. They're compiling the best of the programs that they and other area schools have planned as a resource for other schools hoping to start similar initiatives.

As part of IDOT's Operation Teen Safe Driving program, students meet at 7 a.m. every Friday at Jacobs and use the Ford Driving Skills for Life program. They will present a report about their school's program at the end of the school year for a chance to win prize money to host a post-prom party.