It’s hard not to remember the days of driver education. From the movies showing the horrors of accidents, to road trips to perfect that three-point turn. However, despite vehicle crashes remaining the leading cause of death for teens, fewer new drivers are participating in what used to be considered a rite of passage.
State funding and requirements for these programs have declined over recent decades, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, leaving uneducated teen drivers vulnerable on America’s roads.
New research from the AAA shows that teens who skip this step are involved in more crashes and receive more traffic convictions compared to their peers that participated in driver education.
“This research proves our teens are safer on the roadways when they participate in driver education,” said Sandy Maxwell, AAA’s director of driver training programs, in a release. “New drivers should take part in this critical step of the learning-to-drive process because it makes a significant difference.”
The study assessed examples of American and Canadian driver education programs using a variety of evaluation methods including surveys, driver’s licensing tests, driver simulators, and the review of driving records. The results revealed that several key differences exist between teens who receive driver education and those who do not, including:
• Driver education is associated with a lower incidence of both crashes and convictions — reducing crashes by 4.3 percent, and convictions by nearly 40 percent.
• Teens that completed driver education not only scored higher on the driving exam, they also demonstrated modest increases in knowledge over their peers who did not take any formal training.
“Overall, the findings suggest that driver education can make a difference, but there is still much room for improvement in most existing programs,” said Peter Kissinger, president and chief executive of the AAA Foundation, in a release. “This underscores the need for states to adopt the (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)-supported standards that are designed to enhance the scope and quality of driver education.”
AAA has been a vocal advocate for teen driver safety for nearly 80 years, and works at the state level to improve driver education programs and prioritizes five of the NHTSA-funded novice teen driver education and training administrative standards:
• Requiring a teen’s parent or guardian to attend an educational seminar.
• Ensuring that classroom instruction is completed in no less than 30 days.
• Requiring annual continuing education for driving instructors.
• Ensuring standards are met by public and private driving schools.
• Adopting a comprehensive graduated drivers licensing system that integrates driver education.
AAA and AAA Foundation have developed resources to help teens stay safe on the roads, including TeenDriving.AAA.com, DriversZed.org, and a two-hour webinar called StartSmart Online Parent Session.
For more information, visit AAAFoundation.org.
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