When I get to speak about safe teen driving in states other than Connecticut, people are always amazed to hear that since 2008, Connecticut has had a two-hour required safe teen driving class for parents. A teen with a learner’s permit must attend the class with one parent or guardian, or else the teen will not get a license from the State. The driving schools keep close track of attendance. Folks in other states scratch their heads as to how Connecticut mustered the political will to impose this intrusion on parents’ time, and how we have sustained it.
As readers of this blog know, I served on the 2007-08 task force that recommended this class to the legislature as part of an overhaul of our teen driver laws. Our state transformed its law from one of the most lenient in the nation to one of the strictest, and the required class was and is a key component of that overhaul.
When the class was first required, about 50 percent of parents disapproved. Now, eight years later, surveys of parents who have taken the class consistently show that about 90 percent find it valuable. In other words, the class is part of the landscape, and most parents support it.
More importantly, over the eight years that we have had this class, Connecticut has achieved a substantial reduction — approximately 70 percent — in teen driver fatalities and injuries. In my view and that of many others, the class is the prime reason for our improvement.
Now, Connecticut is making its class even better, by introducing a statewide curriculum. The effort has been spearheaded by Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and has been rolled out by the Department of Motor Vehicles to driving schools in the past few weeks. A copy of the curriculum is linked here: http://1.usa.gov/1Ws0DwJ.
My message to traffic safety, teen driver safety, and highway safety advocates and professionals in other states about this required class is: Yes, there will be some resistance, but look at Connecticut’s record: The class is now almost universally accepted, and we have a substantial reduction in crash rates that coincides with introduction of this class.
As I say when I go around the country talking about safe teen driving, the deal here in my home state is that if a parent is going to put a driver under age 18 on the road, first we need two hours of your time. This is a good deal for teens, for parents of teens, and for every driver on the road.
Photo by Cali4beach 
