Pushing Driver Training to the Back of the Line

It's back to school time and everyone is rushing around trying to get acclimated to their new schedules so let's put those driver training lessons on the back burner.  There just isn't time with football and cheer practices going on every day after school and you can't take your teenager out of class to take their driver training lessons.....after all, it's only driving.  Let's squeeze in their driving lessons in the evening after a full day of school and after they finish football practice, when they're dead tired is surely the best time for our teens to learn the most dangerous activity they'll do in their lives.

Are you insane?  It's only driving?  Driving is the #1 killer of teenagers and has been for the last 70 years.  We want our children to get good grades so they can get into a good college or university but the one activity they'll do almost every day of their lives is drive.  So they get accepted to Cal or Stanford, they still have to drive there.  You want to risk getting that knock on your door at 3:00am?  In actuality, driver training is more important than all of the other school classes and activities because driving is the #1 killer of teenagers.  I checked and couldn't find the number of teenagers killed because they missed a Spanish or Geography class.  By the way, driving is also the #1 killer of 4 year-olds to 34 year-olds. Take your teenager out of school for their driving lessons when they're fresh and rested so they can assimilate as much information about safe driving as possible.

Should Parents Have The Option To Teach Their Own Children To Drive?

Being an expert in the driver training industry, I would have to say "yes" which goes against my own business interests.  In my opinion, the driver training industry (in its present form) is a total disaster. Licensing does not equate to safety as proven by the traffic accident and death statistics.  The assumption that's implied just by receiving a 6-hour completion certificate from a driving school, that the individual is qualified to drive, is a completely false assumption.  Parents should have the choice and at the same time, the difficulty of passing the DMV driving exam should be drastically increased.

Does passing the driving test automatically mean a driver is a "safe driver"?

Are you kidding, absolutely not.  In California, the average behind-the-wheel drive test lasts only about 12 minutes and if the DMV is running behind schedule, I've witnessed a 6 minute drive test.

A licensed driver and a safe driver have different abilities.  To be licensed, an applicant drives around for a few minutes and proves they can mechanically operate the vehicle.  A safe driver has the ability to strategically position their vehicle so as not to involve themselves in accidents.

If licensing was the determining factor to being a safe driver, then why is driving the number one killer of newly licensed drivers?  Why do 80% of new drivers get into a reportable accident within the first 3 years?

A drivers license is false security and should not be relied upon to determine if a driver is a "safe driver".

Is the Driver Education Industry in the U.S. a Failure?

Without a doubt, yes.  Eighty percent (80%) of new drivers will be involved in a reportable accident within the first 3 years of driving .... that's a 20% sucess rate.  In 2004, the California DMV eliminated the requirement for a new driving instructor applicant to take a behind-the-wheel driving exam.  On a daily basis, there are approximately 17,200 traffic accidents which result in approximately 9,500 injuries and 120 deaths just in the U.S. alone.  More people have been killed in auto accidents than all of the combined U.S military casualties from every war since the beginning of our country.

It's broken people.  When a few U.S. soldiers are killed by an IED, it makes national news but when 120 people are killed on a daily basis due to traffic accidents, there's no national outcry.  Have we as a society come to accept these deaths as normal?

Before I get on my soapbox and go after who I think are responsible for this carnage, I would like to hear your ideas.
John