Nervous hands grip the steering wheel, knuckles white and palms sweaty.
Every driver remembers the excitement of the first time he or she truly was in control of a 2-ton automobile, often with Dad or Mom providing guidance from the passenger’s seat.
But parents often don’t know enough to coach teen drivers to wend safely through increasing numbers of vehicles and complicated traffic designs, said Retta Gavin, program coordinator for North Georgia Safety Training and Disaster Services Inc. in Dalton, Ga.
“A lot of times they (teens) pick up bad habits from their parents, unfortunately, myself being one of them,” said Ms. Gavin, whose son is 20.
“If all that they’re experiencing is (learned from) one or two parents, then they don’t always get those well-rounded examples of what they need to be doing in the car,” she said.
However good a parent’s instruction is, classroom and highway training with a professional instructor strengthens those lessons, she said.
And Georgia teens are required under Joshua’s Law to take driver education courses if they wish to get their driver’s licenses before they turn 17.
The six instructors at North Georgia Safety Training and Disaster Services were trained and licensed for the program, she said. The training center is a nonprofit agency for Safe Kids of Dalton.
Ms. Gavin said trainers focus on teaching teens to reduce risks of driving, starting with the basic operation of the vehicle.
Local resident Mike Ewton’s daughter Chelsea, 16, is taking the class because he feels his lessons aren’t enough.
“You can take an online class and satisfy that requirement for Joshua’s Law as long as you’ve logged a certain number of hours riding with a parent,” Mr. Ewton said. “But I just think having a professional driver training instructor is that added level of safety that I’m looking for, just for peace of mind.”
Chelsea, a junior at Northwest Whitfield High, said she started driving with an instructor for the first time last week. Her experience with her parents helps, but there’s a difference with a professional instructor, she said.
Trainers “don’t take for granted that you know anything. They make sure you know every aspect of what you need to be doing,” she said.
TO LEARN MORE
For more information or to register for a class, call North Georgia Safety Training and Disaster Services at 706-913-7908, e-mail retta.ngst@windstream.net or visit www.ngast.org. The cost is $385 for 30 hours in class and six hours behind the wheel. The next classes begin Tuesday and on June 8.
BY THE NUMBERS
Automobile accidents account for more teen deaths than any other single cause. The cause of death among teens who died in 2009:
* 35 percent: Car crashes
* 16 percent: Suicide
* 12 percent: Homicide
* 37 percent: All other causes
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
JOSHUA’S LAW
* 16-year-olds can get a Class D driver’s license after completing an approved driver education course and 40 hours of supervised driving, including six hours of nighttime driving.
* Teens who don’t take a driver-ed course can’t get a license before age 17 and must provide sworn verification from a parent or guardian that they have completed at least 40 hours of supervised driving, including at least six hours at night.
WHO WAS JOSHUA?
Cartersville, Ga., teen Joshua Brown was killed July 1, 2003, when his truck hit a puddle of water on the road and crashed into a tree. Later his parents, Alan and LuGina Brown, provided driving simulators and training to Joshua’s high school. They developed a technologically advanced driver-ed program for teens and pressed for passage of “Joshua’s Law” in the Georgia General Assembly.
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