Parents of teens often are more concerned about their children's involvement with drinking, drugs and sex than they are driving, but there is considerable evidence extant indicating that vehicular accidents are the greatest threat to youngsters' safety. Driver's education courses, once a staple of the public school curriculum, are an effective way to impart the knowledge and skills to reduce that risk, but such classes have not been available here for years. That will change today.
The city's first driver's education course, underwritten in great part from fines that come from the city's photo-enforced traffic lights and speed cameras, begins late this afternoon at the Brainerd Recreation Center. The class for Chattanooga residents ages 15-18 won instant acceptance. Even with little publicity to attract enrollees, word about the initial five-week course spread quickly. The class filled quickly, and there is a waiting list for next year's classes.
The class beginning tonight is a pilot program, says John Van Winkle, the city traffic engineer. If it is successful -- and there is no reason it should not be -- the city plans to continue the program in Brainerd and to add classes next year at the John A. Patten and Washington Hills community centers. Given the number of youngsters in the community of or nearing the age to drive, the addition of the driver's education program to the services offered by the city is welcome
The city's driver education course -- to be taught by Haman's New Drivers working under contract -- is not free. There is a $50 enrollment fee, but that's a bargain. The going rate for a similar course in the market is $400. Moreover, requiring the fee can serve a useful purpose. Enrollees are more likely to complete the course if they -- and their parents -- have a financial incentive to do so.
The city has an incentive to sponsor and promote the program, as well. Graduates of driver's education courses, on the whole, are more likely to be safer drivers than those who do not take the classes. Graduates, then, are less likely to drive recklessly or otherwise break laws than can bring harm to themselves or to those with whom they share the road. Given the number of young people involved in accidents within the city, expanding educational opportunities for young drivers is eminently sensible.
"Well over half the accidents in the city involve drivers under 25, and a high percentage of those involve younger drivers distracted by things like cell phones or paying more attention to things going on outside rather than inside the car," says Caroline Johnson, driver's education coordinator for the city. Reducing those numbers is an admirable goal. Using funds produced by the photo enforcement program to reach it is a wise investment that promises significant returns in the future.
The city's class, according to Mr. Van Winkle, will be more than a run-of-the-mill course about how to drive a car. Instructors also will emphasize what it takes to be a good driver and the responsibility one assumes when behind the wheel. Those lessons, along with the traditional instruction about driving a car in normal and emergency situations, should help prepare participants for the rigors of the road. The city's willingness to invest in such programming is commendable.
City leaders promised that proceeds from the controversial photo enforcement initiative would be used for safety programs. The driver's education program fulfills, at least in part, that promise. It also does much more. It provides an opportunity for kids to learn to drive safely and responsibly and in doing so to assuage, at least a little bit, those parental anxieties that are a natural byproduct of a youngster obtaining a driver's license and then joining those who regularly travel the community's roads.
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