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In 2005, the latest year for which the CDC has published driving statistics, more than 4,500 teenagers died and 400,000 were injured in wrecks nationwide. People ages 15-24 comprise only 14 percent of the U.S. population, but they account for 30 percent of the cost of motor vehicle accidents -- some $19 billion in 2005, according to the CDC.
As the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District's health, physical education, athletics and driver's education director, Saul Lerner is all too aware of the dangers of teen driving. In conjunction with the Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center and the Allstate Foundation, Lerner has brought to the district a number of innovative driver's education programs aimed at educating both parents and teenagers. Central students cannot get school parking permits without first attending a special seminar with their parents.
State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican from Merrick, recently appointed Lerner to the Governor's Temporary Advisory Panel on Driver's Education, Availability and Curriculum Development because of his work in promoting driver's ed. The panel's recommendations, which will be released in January, will help inform the state as it seeks to improve driver's education programs throughout New York.
The panel met three times in Albany, and filed a final report to the governor in December. The panel included Richard Mills, the commissioner of the state Education Department, and David Swarts, commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, along with traffic safety experts, and school and government representatives.
Lerner said he believes teens should be required to spend more time practicing driving with a qualified instructor in a driver's ed. course before being allowed to take a road test. Currently, a 17-year-old can get his or her license with as few as six hours behind the wheel in driver's ed. "There is a need to fix what we're currently doing," Lerner said.
He would also like to see more colleges and universities offering certification programs for driver's ed. instructors. Only four schools in New York now offer such programs. One of them is Hofstra.
The trouble, Lerner said, is money. Driver's ed. instructors are, by and large, poorly paid, so there is little demand for certification classes. Many school districts, he added, see driver's ed. as a distraction from academic courses and do not offer it. Bellmore-Merrick is one of the few he knows of that do. The district charges $460 for the semester-long course, and earns nothing from it: The tuition goes to the East Meadow Driving School, which runs Central's program. Bellmore-Merrick must bear administrative costs, however, Lerner explained, another reason that many districts are reluctant to offer driver's ed.
Finally, Lerner would like to see mothers and fathers taking part in driver's ed. courses with their children. The classroom instruction could be valuable for parent and child. "All too often," he said, "parents say, take driver's ed., we'll give you a car, you're on your own."
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As the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District's health, physical education, athletics and driver's education director, Saul Lerner is all too aware of the dangers of teen driving. In conjunction with the Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center and the Allstate Foundation, Lerner has brought to the district a number of innovative driver's education programs aimed at educating both parents and teenagers. Central students cannot get school parking permits without first attending a special seminar with their parents.
State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican from Merrick, recently appointed Lerner to the Governor's Temporary Advisory Panel on Driver's Education, Availability and Curriculum Development because of his work in promoting driver's ed. The panel's recommendations, which will be released in January, will help inform the state as it seeks to improve driver's education programs throughout New York.
The panel met three times in Albany, and filed a final report to the governor in December. The panel included Richard Mills, the commissioner of the state Education Department, and David Swarts, commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, along with traffic safety experts, and school and government representatives.
Lerner said he believes teens should be required to spend more time practicing driving with a qualified instructor in a driver's ed. course before being allowed to take a road test. Currently, a 17-year-old can get his or her license with as few as six hours behind the wheel in driver's ed. "There is a need to fix what we're currently doing," Lerner said.
The trouble, Lerner said, is money. Driver's ed. instructors are, by and large, poorly paid, so there is little demand for certification classes. Many school districts, he added, see driver's ed. as a distraction from academic courses and do not offer it. Bellmore-Merrick is one of the few he knows of that do. The district charges $460 for the semester-long course, and earns nothing from it: The tuition goes to the East Meadow Driving School, which runs Central's program. Bellmore-Merrick must bear administrative costs, however, Lerner explained, another reason that many districts are reluctant to offer driver's ed.
Finally, Lerner would like to see mothers and fathers taking part in driver's ed. courses with their children. The classroom instruction could be valuable for parent and child. "All too often," he said, "parents say, take driver's ed., we'll give you a car, you're on your own."
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