The N.C. General Assembly hopes to use $26 million a year for other purposes once the funding runs out at the end of June for driver’s education in public schools. But at what cost to drivers in terms of insurance rates? And more important, driver safety?
Those questions haven’t been addressed very well by lawmakers looking for expenses to trim. About $3 of the taxes and fees a driver typically pays on his vehicle in North Carolina in effect goes to pay for driver’s ed. The taxes and fees aren’t going to decrease; legislators will simply apply that $26 million toward other needs.
Driver’s education has never been able to replace the safety and knowledge that come with driving experience. But it has been an excellent preparation course for young drivers before they get behind the wheel.
Without the state’s supplement for driver’s ed, those teenagers will still be allowed to take the course – but at a cost of about $350. That’s prohibitive to many students and families, particularly in school systems such as Nash-Rocky Mount and Edgecombe County Public Schools, where so many students already receive free or reduced-cost lunches.
More likely, those teens will wait until they turn 18, when they can apply for driver’s licenses without taking driver’s ed first.
That might keep teens off the road a little longer, but we worry about the driving ability of someone who hasn’t received training in the classroom or behind the wheel with a qualified instructor.
If the accident rate in North Carolina increases, you can bet our insurance premiums will follow a similar path. All of those reasons make the end of driver’s education a poor decision.
Those questions haven’t been addressed very well by lawmakers looking for expenses to trim. About $3 of the taxes and fees a driver typically pays on his vehicle in North Carolina in effect goes to pay for driver’s ed. The taxes and fees aren’t going to decrease; legislators will simply apply that $26 million toward other needs.
Driver’s education has never been able to replace the safety and knowledge that come with driving experience. But it has been an excellent preparation course for young drivers before they get behind the wheel.
Without the state’s supplement for driver’s ed, those teenagers will still be allowed to take the course – but at a cost of about $350. That’s prohibitive to many students and families, particularly in school systems such as Nash-Rocky Mount and Edgecombe County Public Schools, where so many students already receive free or reduced-cost lunches.
More likely, those teens will wait until they turn 18, when they can apply for driver’s licenses without taking driver’s ed first.
That might keep teens off the road a little longer, but we worry about the driving ability of someone who hasn’t received training in the classroom or behind the wheel with a qualified instructor.
If the accident rate in North Carolina increases, you can bet our insurance premiums will follow a similar path. All of those reasons make the end of driver’s education a poor decision.
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