State to revamp drivers ed courses

With car crashes being the leading killer among people between 16 and 24, having claimed the lives of more than 200 drivers in that age group in New York in 2006, the state is looking into ways to turn the situation around.
A newly released report from the Temporary Special Advisory Panel on Driver Education Availability and Curriculum Enhancement has made several recommendations that look “to improve teen driver safety and public health.”
“The well-being of our teen drivers and those with whom they share the road has become not only a safety issue but also a public health issue,” New York State Governor David A. Paterson said. “I look forward to reviewing this report and working with the panel members, the legislature and other stakeholders identified by the panel to implement the report recommendations.”
Along with keeping young drivers safe, these changes also look to protect the general public. In 2006 in New York State, “there were 250 other fatalities and more than 41,000 other injured people as a result of crashes involving young drivers.”
One recommendation by the panel would involve standardizing the state’s driver education curriculum. Along with learning about cognitive skills and hazard detection, students would also be taught about “appropriate attitudes and behaviors.”
Traffic safety and hazard awareness would also be worked into other academic subjects. Technology will be used at times to complement actual driving hours.
The recommendations also call for several other groups to get involved in educating young people about driving. For instance, parents and guardians would become more active in the process.
In addition, there will be “a national group of driver education teachers and representatives of national and state associations to develop strategies to support peer development, share best practices in teaching driver education and disseminate research findings about safe driving techniques.” National experts and state practitioners will also be involved.
Also, the report recommends that more opportunities be made available to certified teachers so that they will be able to “pursue completion of the driver education endorsement courses.”
“Our goal at DMV is to ensure that our teen drivers are fully prepared to take on the life-long responsibility of driving,” said David J. Swarts, the New York State Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles who was a co-chair of the panel. “I am confident that these recommendations will help improve driver education and make driver training not only more available to our young motorists, but more appealing and useful as well.”
The special advisory panel was created in July of 2008 by the New York State Legislature. The panel was co-chaired by Swarts and New York State Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills.
“To better protect New York’s young drivers we must give them more opportunities to take meaningful driver’s education courses - and to get them interested in taking those courses,” Mills said. “The surest way to do that is to develop a high-quality curriculum. If adopted, the recommendations contained in the final report…will do just that. The result, of course, will be improved driver safety - not only for young drivers, but all for those who share the road with them.”