Automobiles have been around since the 1800′s and subsequently drivers have had to learn to handle these inventions since that time. In the United States, the state of the art for driver’s education has been woefully inadequate and really not been taken seriously. Typically, teens were taught how to drive in the public schools by teachers who had the available free time to provide driving lessons.
In the 1970′s the first attempt to systemically teach new drivers how to handle an automobile was created. A book called Drive Right was written, which prescribed a formulaic approach to driver training. This became the core of early driver training and was coupled with videos and taught in an ad-hoc manner in public schools.
The driver training concept of defensive driving was the next evolution in the training of new drivers. It is formally defined as “driving to save lives, time, and money, in spite of the conditions around you and the actions of others”. It was a step ahead, but still only covered some of the aspects that a new driver would have to deal with on the roads.
Recently, an industry has arisen in the form of private driving schools which have trained professional instructors. These businesses are focused on teaching drivers how to drive and not just get a driver’s license. Safely driving an automobile requires a wide range of skills including distraction management, car control, and attitude in addition to the basic theory of driving an automobile. Today, these topics are not part of the teen’s driving lessons, which explains why we still have such a major problem with collision rates among teens.
The concept of research about issues facing teens learning to master driving is very recent as well. The goal of this research, which is performed at institutions such as VTTI and UMASS, is to determine the major issues that are causing new drivers problems on the street. Via the research, we are finally beginning to get a handle of the causes which can be used to direct driving lessons targeted at keeping teens out of trouble. However, the driving school industry has not developed programs that really take this research into account.
Today, this research is being used by a few innovative driving schools, such as SWERVE Driver Training. SWERVE is a Redmond, Washington driving school that invests in the development of research based programs. The concept of utilizing research as a foundation for a driver training program is new and will contribute greatly to the efficacy of these programs.
Moving from research to training programs is a unique approach to driver training. The investment required is substantial and it takes a long period of time to actually demonstrate that the program is having the desired impact.
Fortunately, there is starting to emerge proof that research based programs, such as SWERVE’s driver training program, are having an impact. In Washington state, data from the DOL shows that SWERVE’s students have less incidents post training. On the home page of the Company’s web site is a graph showing the difference their approach can provide.
Learn more about driving schools. Stop by the SWERVE Driver Training site where you can find out all about teen driver lessons and what it can do for you.
