Budget cuts mean parents more responsible for teen driver training

Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teens in Washington. At the same time, fewer high schools are offering drivers education because of budget cuts.

Now, more than ever, experts say parents have an even bigger responsibility to make sure teens are ready to get behind the wheel.

JC Fawcett is the President of the Defensive Driving School where they teach students “commentary driving.” The students use certain terms to describe situations they encounter on the road.

“If they come to a red light, the term we like them to say is, “trap.” And the very next thing coming out of their mouth should be, “check one,” which stands for the rear-view mirror. They’re checking what’s going on behind them.”
The idea is that saying what you see on the road helps you anticipate potential hazards.
He says they emphasize commentary driving once they teach students the basics.

But he says there’s only so much his instructors can teach in the amount of time they’re working with your teen.

“Driving instructors know what they’re doing. However, six hours, which is what’s required by the state of Washington, is not going to be enough for a student to know everything they need to know and have experienced everything they need to have experienced in order to get their license.”

In addition to those six hours during the session, the state only requires 50 hours of supervised driving practice. State Patrol trooper Julie Startup says you’ll want to do a lot more than that to get your teen ready to drive solo.

“Sixteen to 25 is the age group that we are seeing the most amount of collisions and that would unfortunately include some of the bigger collisions, the fatalities and the serious injury collisions,” says Startup.

While crashes are still the leading cause of deaths among teens in Washington, the numbers have been cut by over half in the last decade, since the intermediate driver’s licensing law has been in effect. That law forbids 16-and-17 year olds from driving between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. within the first 12 months of having a license. They’re also not allowed to have other non-family passengers for the first six months.

But Trooper Startup says there are still too many teens who are either unaware or are ignoring the law and they’re driving around with a packed car at a time they shouldn’t be.