ATLANTA --- Nearly two years since the state began a mandatory teenage driver education program, it has yet to show an identifiable impact in reducing accidents among teens, a new state audit says.
Only one-third of the $26 million in traffic fines collected to fund its expansion has gone to the intended purpose of driver training, a new state audit says.
On the other hand, the roughly $8.3 million lawmakers have given the Georgia Driver's Education Commission, which oversees the training, has helped increase access to driver's education programs for teens in rural areas, and made the courses cheaper through online driver training classes.
"I definitely think that is evidence the driver's ed commission has moved forward," said Susan Sports, spokeswoman for the Department of Driver Services, to which the commission is attached.
Ms. Sports and driving school instructors dispute the audit's finding that mandatory training hasn't reduced accidents.
"Every study I have read states that driver education for the novice driver is working," said Beth Bridges, who runs a Coffee County driving school and sat on the GDEC until March.
Crash statistics show a downward trend for the number of teenagers involved in accidents, even in the absence of mandatory driver training.
Since 2005, when legislation passed requiring all 16-year-olds to take 30 hours of instruction and six hours of behind-the-wheel training, accidents among that age group fell 16 percent.
The legislation known as Joshua's Law piggybacked on earlier legislation that created a three-tier driver's license system, which has been proven to decrease fatality rates. But no such studies have linked the driver's education requirement to decreases in accidents, the auditing team noted in its report.
Joshua's Law also added a $5 fee to traffic tickets in 2005. That money goes to the General Fund, and is supposed to go to the GDEC for driver training. But lawmakers have only appropriated one-third of that to the GDEC. The rest was used to fund five positions at DDS and the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. They also funded grants that paid for public computers, where students can take online courses, and created or enhanced driving programs at 59 public schools.
Ms. Bridges said the online driving courses may be watering down the effectiveness of training.
Jake Armstrong can be reached at (404) 589-8424 or jake.armstrong@morris.com.
Comments
Show me the Georgia Drivers Equcation Commission budget and I'll show you their priorities. Really folks what have they spent $8.3 mil on? This is exactly why we need open records on the internet for our own city budget. Don't tell me how much you spent for the year, tell me what is was spent on!!!!
This just reafirms that old addage... "Practice does not make perfect, it just makes permanent." In other words, if driver education is not working for this state, instead of throwing out driver education, CHANGE it until it does produce the numbers you need to see in teen reductions in fatalities, citations, and collisions. Compare driver ed in other states.
In Oregon we have TOTALLY changed our approach (since 2002) by completely redoing our curriculum to best practice and "reduced risk" driving behaviors. Check out our NHTSA study at their site. Learn more about "keeping the baby, but changing the bathwater" at www.otsea.org. Bill Warner, Past President, Oregon Traffic Safety Education Association.
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