As we begin National Safe Teen Driving Week, I begin a multi-part series about a unique aspect of Connecticut’s teen driver law.
In 2008, the Connecticut legislature, based on recommendations from a statewide task force on which I served, transformed the state’s teen driver law from one of the nation’s most lenient to one of the strictest. The major changes were increasing the required on-the-road hours for learner’s permit holders from 20 to 40; lengthening passenger restrictions to no one for six months, then family only for six months (so, no friends for one year); moving the nighttime curfew from midnight to 11 PM; a total ban on electronic devices; mandatory license suspensions for violators; a requirement for all passengers of teen drivers to wear seat belts; a required two hour safety class for parents and guardians of learner’s permit holders; and finally, authority of law enforcement to confiscate a teen’s license and impound a teen’s car for 48 hours where the situation warrants. Since 2008, the results have been remarkable: substantial and even nation-leading reductions in teen driver violations, crashes, injuries, and fatalities.
This track record led me to ask this question: of all of these changes, if I had to choose one, which has been the most effective in reducing teen driver crashes? Obviously, each change has played some role in the progress. but my vote is the required two hour class, which at least one parent or guardian of a learner’s permit holder must attend before the teen driver can graduate to a license.
I believe I am correct to say that Connecticut is the only state that currently mandates a two hour class. New Jersey has a form of required parent education, and I am informed that some local governments in Virginia have instituted required classes, but in any event this is not a widespread phenomenon.
When Connecticut’s Task Force was considering this class as a recommendation in 2008, there were obvious concerns: Requiring parents into a forced march — taking two hours from their busy schedules? What would the class cover? Would the driving school instructors agree to do it and do it well? Would there be any minimum standards or specified curriculum? Would parents listen? After the the class would they think it was worthwhile?
Three plus years into the experiment, it can be reported that although Connecticut has not yet adopted a uniform or required curriculum for the class — an advisory committee is working on it currently — and even though there were some growing pains as driving schools struggled initially to understand how to carry out this class, the good news is that, based on at least two comprehensive surveys, the class has been well received and parents have found it informative and helpful, both in educating them about what the state’s teen driving laws do and do not require, and also in raising their awareness of the risks and dangers of teen driving. In one sense, the very fact that the legislature decided that teen driving is so potentially dangerous as to require a parent or guardian to attend a safety class before turning a teen driver loose seems to have made an impression on parents. Put another way, Connecticut has said that the “cost” to parents of allowing their teens to drive on the state’s roads and highways is two hours of their undivided attention to the safety risks, and most parents — not all — have come away thinking that this is not an unreasonable request.
Perhaps the lesson here for those who labor to educate parents of teen drivers about safety risks, teen driver laws, and best practices for training and supervision is that the single most important element is: getting parents’ undivided attention.
Next up: if I could design a curriculum for a two hour class….
