GANNETT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL REPORT

Road Worthy: Tips for Safe Driving

J. Douglas Brooks, (Port Huron) Times Herald

Denise Palmateer, owner and teacher of Palmateer Driving School, works with Ryan Maxon, 15, of Port Huron, Mich., as he takes to the road for the first time.

Originally published: March 21, 2006

Schools can put students on road to safe driving

By ALISON BATH and COURTNEY LINGLE, Gannett News Service

Good driving schools give a teen more than the minimum instruction state law may require.

The best offer lessons on rules of the road, high-tech simulations that allow students to make choices and see the consequences, and time in a car driving one on one with a teacher.

Andy Barron, Reno Gazette Journal

Marvin Mendonca of Reno, Nev.-based All American Driving demonstrates a simulator that is used to give teens and other drivers training in defensive driving.

"It all comes down to training, and training is the one thing we don't have in drivers education," says Jeff Payne, a professional race-car driver and founder of Las Vegas-based Driver's Edge. His nonprofit company tours the country offering free defensive-driving seminars to teens. Sponsors and donors provide the financing.

"The drivers education system is a sham," he says. "There needs to be a true behind-the-wheel education."

If an aspiring teen drivers school system offers driver education classes, a teen should take advantage, in part because it may be the least expensive way to learn to drive. Private schools - both nearby and online - should have state certification and state the cost and how many hours of classroom instruction, simulation and driving they offer.

"The selection shouldn't be made solely on the price," says Liz Christopher, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

Thirty-three states require teens to fulfill some sort of driver education requirement before qualifying for a license, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

But the number of hours necessary varies widely and not all states mandate supervised, on-the-road driving in formal drivers ed.

"Driving is not an academic endeavor. Driving is a hand-eye coordination endeavor," says Ken Kruger, chief executive officer of All American Driving School in Reno, Nev. "All the (classroom) drivers education in the world is not going to make anyone a better driver."

That's one of the drawbacks of an online program as well: lack of on-the-road practice with a professional.

Mel Klema of Windsor, Colo., says her parents were shocked by the $375 price of a private course she took that included 30 hours in the classroom, six hours behind the wheel and testing fees for the permit and drivers license. But they opted to pay for it anyway.

"They didn't want me to do it online because they didn't think you get the same experience," she says.

Still, many online and mail-order courses are approved and cheaper. In those cases, the responsibility of teaching teens on the road is left primarily to parents, who may not know defensive-driving skills and could pass on their own bad habits.

Many insurance companies promote driver training by offering discounts for driver safety courses, says Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

"Teens should ask their insurance companies what discounts and driver safety courses they can take advantage of to bring their rates down," she says. Teen insurance rates are high, but training, good student discounts and adding a teen to the family policy instead of taking out an individual policy can reduce premiums by as much as 25 percent.

(Alison Bath writes for the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal; Courtney Lingle writes for the Fort Collins Coloradoan. Also contributing: John Johnston, The Cincinnati Enquirer.)

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©2006, Gannett News Service

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