APRIL 27, 2006

Goal: optimize system that trains 120,000 each year

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land today proposed changes to Michigan's driver education program intended to strengthen the curriculum, improve driver and instructor training and establish consistency among public and private driving schools that train approximately 120,000 students per year.

"Our driver education program prepares students well for the challenges of driving but we can strengthen it even more by addressing areas where there is still room for improvement," said Land, the state's chief motor vehicle administrator. "These changes will ensure that we are doing everything we can to put safe drivers on the road."

Land's plan is based on recommendations of a Driver Education Advisory Committee she created last year to conduct a comprehensive review of the state's driver education program in order to ensure consistency in objectives, curriculums, program requirements and instructor qualifications. The committee was comprised of driving instructors, school owners, third-party skills testers, law enforcement and traffic safety leaders.

The proposed changes would require the Department of State to prescribe model curriculums for student and instructor training. They would also mandate the administration of a second knowledge test as part of the driver education program and an additional hour of behind-the-wheel instruction.

All instructors and providers would be required to be recertified every two years. They also would submit fingerprint-based criminal history checks and medical exam reports every four and two years respectively. Driving instructors would be subject to professional development criteria and would no longer need to possess a Michigan teaching certificate to work for public school driver education providers. Instructors would also no longer need to obtain multiple licenses to work for more than one provider.

Other changes would impose immediate license sanctions upon providers and instructors who are convicted of specified crimes such as criminal sexual conduct and felony fraud or who have too many points on their driving record. Violators would also be subject to an administrative fine of up to $1,000 per violation.

Land said her office will work with the Legislature to pass the proposals as The Driver Education Provider and Instructor Act.

Administration of the state's driver education program was transferred from the Department of Education to the Department of State by Public Acts 70 and 71 of 2004. That year, the most recent for which statistics are available, more than 120,000 novice students were trained in operating a vehicle. A total of 1,306 approved instructors taught driver education at 310 public schools and 1,794 instructors taught at 196 private training schools.

As Secretary, Land has focused the department on the important mission of improving safety for motorists in the state. The department has introduced a Vertical ID program to help prevent minors from obtaining alcohol and supported a tougher standard for drunken driving. It has also promoted enhanced training for school bus drivers, safe driving by elderly motorists and reforms that are making it easier to remove abandoned vehicles from Michigan's streets and highways.

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