State Funding for Teen Drivers

In the coming weeks decisions made by the state Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson will have a profound effect on the future cost of auto insurance rates as they relate to some 250,000 new teen drivers entering California’s roads this year.

As part of the budget crunch, funds collected from moving violations for high school driver training have been taken for other general fund uses. As a result most high schools have canceled driver training classes. The Los Angeles Unified School District suspended its 30,000-student program as of July 1. The only legal choice available to students who wish to drive before their 18th birthday is to seek a private driving course at a cost of some $200 or more. For numerous families this is a hardship as they try to meet the state mandate for completing driver education and driver training for a teen-aged provisional driver’s license.

The reality is that many students are going to drive unlicensed, untrained and without insurance. This can only lead to increased deaths, injuries and insurance costs for all of us. More teen-aged deaths are caused by automobile collisions than all other causes of death combined!

The governor and the Legislature have before them proposed legislation by Sen. Ralph Dills (D-Gardena) that would in effect restore funding for high schools from monies collected by the courts for high school driver training. These funds are dedicated monies that should be used for the purpose for which they were collected. It is shortsighted, to say the least, to deny entry-level teen drivers training for operating a motor vehicle in a state that has more than 20 million licensed drivers on its roadways. Hopefully our state leaders will recognize this and restore high school driver training funding this year.

JERRY GAINES, Past President, California Assn. for Safety Education, San Pedro