Wow! Drivers ed is pretty old. If he were a factory worker, he would have been given his gold watch and put out to pasture. (Do they give gold watches anymore?)
Some things never change. At least, it seems that way. The church bells in our neighborhood still ring at noon and on the hour and my wife still won't darn socks (but that's another topic).
Let's get back on point. The formula for driver education (5 hours of classroom for every 1 hour of behind-the-wheel training) was adopted in 1949 without any empirical evidence or testing. It sounded like a good idea at the time, it fit the high school schedule at the time. No one objected to it. Voila! Accepted.
And, even though every (yes every) valid study of driver education has demonstrated that this standard has FAILED to reduce accidents (really, I prefer the word "collisions" because these are not "accidents" - I mean it's not like this is an act of God).
I kid you not, folks. People want to believe driver education is beneficial. Some even think it's a sin just to point out its massive failure. But the facts are not in dispute. Drivers education has failed, and it has failed miserably.
Isn't that amazing! Yes, it certainly is. Is that some kind of a record or what?
Here we have requirement that seems logical. It makes sense to most anyone that if you are going to give someone a lethal weapon (a 3,000 pound machine with the potential of easily doing speeds of 50, 60 or 70 miles per hour) that you want the operator of that weapon to have some training, some experience, some judgment, and certainly proof of minimum qualifications before you give him the keys and turn him loose.
Hey, isn't that already done. Sort of.
Yes, both state and federal agencies have established guidelines for driver education. Schools and instructors are licensed and regulated and supposedly trained in the most current techniques for teaching driving safety.
But guess what, both the federal and state agencies still follow that old, outdated, never-proven (unless you count the proof of its failure to produce safer drivers) formula from 1949 - yes, that's the 5 hours of class for every 1 hour of behind-the-wheel training. And, in Texas drivers, some public school and driving schools give more classroom and less on-road training- wow. Talk about watering down standards - it's amazing what some schools will do just to "herd 'em in and get 'em out".
Too many parents think that you can simply go to any "approved" school or use any "approved" course and, once you student passes the road test at the driver license test that you can relax and trust that your student will drive safely. (Well, if you have any common sense you are aware that nothing could be further from the truth.)
Hey, I'm not some radical telling you this because I advocate doing away with training and licensing requirements. Just the opposite. But I think we've got to recognize when something's broken and invest in fixing it - even if that means doing something a few people might consider radically different.
Some things never change. At least, it seems that way. The church bells in our neighborhood still ring at noon and on the hour and my wife still won't darn socks (but that's another topic).
Let's get back on point. The formula for driver education (5 hours of classroom for every 1 hour of behind-the-wheel training) was adopted in 1949 without any empirical evidence or testing. It sounded like a good idea at the time, it fit the high school schedule at the time. No one objected to it. Voila! Accepted.
And, even though every (yes every) valid study of driver education has demonstrated that this standard has FAILED to reduce accidents (really, I prefer the word "collisions" because these are not "accidents" - I mean it's not like this is an act of God).
I kid you not, folks. People want to believe driver education is beneficial. Some even think it's a sin just to point out its massive failure. But the facts are not in dispute. Drivers education has failed, and it has failed miserably.
Isn't that amazing! Yes, it certainly is. Is that some kind of a record or what?
Here we have requirement that seems logical. It makes sense to most anyone that if you are going to give someone a lethal weapon (a 3,000 pound machine with the potential of easily doing speeds of 50, 60 or 70 miles per hour) that you want the operator of that weapon to have some training, some experience, some judgment, and certainly proof of minimum qualifications before you give him the keys and turn him loose.
Hey, isn't that already done. Sort of.
Yes, both state and federal agencies have established guidelines for driver education. Schools and instructors are licensed and regulated and supposedly trained in the most current techniques for teaching driving safety.
But guess what, both the federal and state agencies still follow that old, outdated, never-proven (unless you count the proof of its failure to produce safer drivers) formula from 1949 - yes, that's the 5 hours of class for every 1 hour of behind-the-wheel training. And, in Texas drivers, some public school and driving schools give more classroom and less on-road training- wow. Talk about watering down standards - it's amazing what some schools will do just to "herd 'em in and get 'em out".
Too many parents think that you can simply go to any "approved" school or use any "approved" course and, once you student passes the road test at the driver license test that you can relax and trust that your student will drive safely. (Well, if you have any common sense you are aware that nothing could be further from the truth.)
Hey, I'm not some radical telling you this because I advocate doing away with training and licensing requirements. Just the opposite. But I think we've got to recognize when something's broken and invest in fixing it - even if that means doing something a few people might consider radically different.
Patrick L. Barrett is a nationally known expert in training for collision-free driving. Pat owns Driver Ed in a Box LLC, a company with a mission to provide families with the knowledge and tools necessary to build the habits of safe, collision-free driving through their parent taught drivers education course.
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