Opinion: America Needs to See Driver Education As A Public Safety Investment

Every year, tens of thousands of people are killed on American roads, and millions more suffer injuries in traffic crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roadway fatalities remain one of the nation’s most significant public safety challenges. Behind every statistic are lost lives, devastated families and enormous economic costs.

The nation has made substantial investments in transportation infrastructure, vehicle safety technology and emergency response systems, but one critical component of roadway safety continues to be undervalued: high-quality driver education.

Far too little attention is given to a fundamental question: How well are new drivers prepared before they begin driving independently?

This concern is especially important for teenage drivers. Many states require too few hours of professional instruction, which means that parents assume too much responsibility for behind-the-wheel training. Parental involvement is invaluable, but not all parents possess up-to-date knowledge of traffic laws, understand risk management principles, or consistently model safe driving behaviors. As a result, unsafe habits, aggressive driving styles and poor decision-making patterns are often passed from one generation of drivers to the next.

Serious concerns also exist regarding adult novice drivers. Every year, thousands of adults begin learning to drive with friends or family members, often without receiving systematic instruction in risk assessment, decision-making, interaction with other road users, or driving in complex traffic environments. Consequently, many new drivers obtain licenses while still lacking the skills necessary for safe independent driving.

Additional challenges arise when training immigrant drivers. Many newcomers arrive from countries with different traffic laws, roadway systems and driving cultures. Even when they have years of driving experience, that experience may not align with American roadway safety standards.

Language can be an important challenge, but not for the reasons most people think. From a roadway safety perspective, the ability to read, understand and correctly interpret roadway information is far more important than conversational fluency.

As a driving instructor, I regularly work with students who can carry on everyday conversations in English but cannot explain the meaning of a traffic sign they just passed, interpret a message displayed on an electronic highway sign or describe the action required in a specific traffic situation. On the road, comprehension matters more than conversation.

Drivers do not need perfect English to be safe. They do, however, need to understand what the road is telling them.

Safe driving requires understanding traffic signs, electronic message boards, construction warnings, temporary traffic patterns and instructions from police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency responders.

But this is minor compared to our national crisis: Aggressive driving, speeding, distracted driving, overconfidence and unnecessary risk-taking continue to be among the leading contributors to serious crashes. These behaviors are not formed on the day a driver receives a license. They develop much earlier — during the learning process and the first years of independent driving.

That is why the U.S. must begin treating high-quality driver education as a public safety investment rather than merely a private service.

What should policymakers do?

First, states should re-evaluate current driver training requirements.

It is unrealistic to expect safe, competent drivers to emerge after only a handful of professional driving lessons. In some states, the minimum required hours of professional instruction do not reflect the realities of learning to drive safely.

Based on my years of experience as a driving instructor, an adult beginner starting from zero requires at least 30 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction with a professional instructor to confidently master fundamental skills such as lane positioning, proper turning techniques, lane changes, mirror usage, hazard recognition, vehicle control and understanding vehicle dimensions.

Mandatory training with a certified instructor should not apply exclusively to teenagers. Adults obtaining a driver’s license for the first time should also be required to complete professional driver education.

Second, policymakers should encourage partnerships among government agencies, educational institutions, community organizations, and certified public and private driving schools to create affordable, high-quality driver education programs.

Particular attention should be given to teenagers, adult beginners, immigrants and low-income families.

Third, driver education programs must place greater emphasis on risk management, decision-making, the psychology of driving, interaction with other road users and the development of safe driving attitudes.

Passing a licensing examination should not be the primary goal of driver education. The goal should be developing safe drivers capable of making sound decisions in real-world traffic situations.

Fourth, policymakers should support multilingual educational materials and specialized programs for immigrants while focusing not on conversational fluency, but on clear comprehension of roadway information.

Safe drivers do not need perfect English. They do need to accurately understand traffic signs, electronic message boards, construction warnings, temporary traffic patterns and emergency instructions.

Traffic crashes are not inevitable, but are tragedies that could be prevented through better driver preparation, earlier development of safe habits and stronger risk awareness.

We already spend billions of dollars responding to the consequences of traffic crashes, so is it too much to ask that we spent adequately to prevent them? High-quality driver education is not an expense. It is an investment in public safety.