The Higher Costs of Learning How to Drive

State regulations and fiscal cutbacks are changing the face of driver education in California. The result is higher costs for veteran and new drivers alike.

When the state eliminated the reimbursement of costs local schools incurred by offering driver training, school districts were left to scramble for ideas.

Most retained the classroom portion of driver education. Due to the costs associated with automobile maintenance and insurance and the cost for teachers, almost all school districts removed driver training from the regular school curriculum.

The cost of driver education programs varies from company to company or school district to school district.

At Teen Auto Club, six hours of individual instruction costs $179. Sears driving school charges $249 for behind the wheel training, or $335 for a package of 30 classroom hours plus six hours driving time.

The Escondido Driving School charges $145 for six hours of driving, or $225 for the entire driving and classroom package. North County’s Universal Driving School charges $186 for six hours driving time, or $250 for the whole package.

School districts are trying to maintain or restart driver education, but at a cost.

For example, according to Don Hegerly of the Escondido Union High School District, students in Escondido take driver education through the adult division and are now charged $100 for six hours of training.

At San Dieguito, students will again be able to learn through the school. Like Escondido, a new program instituted this year will also funnel students into the adult division. The sessions will cost $150.

Traffic violators are also having to adjust to a new, more expensive, set of rules.

Until recently, a violator paid court administrative costs of $24 plus a fee of about $25 to the traffic school. A completed course not only wiped the ticket off an offender’s record, it voided the fine tied to the offense.

On July 27, Gov. Pete Wilson signed AB544 into law. This large court funding bill included a provision, Chapter 189, that orders a traffic violator to pay the entire fine before being permitted to attend traffic school. Fines average about $100.

Attending traffic school would still clear a violator’s DMV record of the offense.

According to the Traffic Schools Referral Service, a San Francisco-based subscription service, most traffic schools charge between $20 and $35.

The World Famous Improv Traffic School, which boasts classes taught by a stand-up comic, charges $28. The firm will throw in two free passes to the Improv.

Besides being educational--and perhaps entertaining--those six hours in class and the extra $25 in school and $24 in court fees could head off the increase in insurance premiums that accompanies a bad driving record.