Senate Bill 1332: Allowing Parent-Taught Driver’s Education

Author:
Senators Roger Kahn and Wayne Kuipers

Summary:
This bill will allow parents to teach their children driver’s education.

Status:

5/27/2008

(Senate) Introduced, referred to the Committee on Education.

HSLDA’s Position:
HSLDA supports this bill.

Action Requested:
None requested at this time.

Background:
Parents have two choices for their children’s driver education: pay for their children to be taught how to drive at a commercial driving school by certified instructors, or try to persuade the local public schools to make room in their driver’s education courses.

Many states allow parents a third option: teaching your own children how to drive. States for too long have restricted parents’ rights to teach their children to drive.

Now we have an opportunity to pass S.B. 1332 to expand parental choices and end the unfair discrimination against parents.

In addition, statistics show parent-taught driver training saves lives. For example, compare the following facts:

According to insurance company statistics, out of every 100 teen drivers:

1. 37 will be ticketed for speeding,
2. 28 will be involved in accidents,
3. 13 will be injured in an automobile accident,
4. 4 will be ticketed for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and
5. 1 will be killed in an automobile accident.

On the other hand, according to a University of Colorado-Colorado Springs survey, for every 100 students using a parent-taught driver education program (provided by the National Driver Training Institute of Colorado Springs):

• 8 were ticketed for speeding,
• 8 were involved in accidents,
• 6 were injured in automobile accidents,
• 1 was ticketed for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and
• there were no fatalities.

This study and others demonstrate that parent-taught driver education produces safer drivers.

Other Resources

Bill Text (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)