Showing posts with label driver ed. Show all posts

Popular Products Discounted for Nat'l Teen Driver Safety Week

Posted by Unknown in , , , , , , , , on Friday, October 18, 2013

Next week (October 20-26) marks the 2013 observance of National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW), held the third week of October each year since 2007. A legislative effort by Congressional members from Pennsylvania following several teen crashes and fatalities in that state, NTDSW is an opportunity to re-focus national attention on the devastating effects of motor vehicle crashes among teen drivers (the most collision-prone of any motorists), as well as on promising and proven strategies for saving lives.

During NTDSW 2013, we will be offering a 50 percent discount on one of our most popular educational product bundles: Driver-ZED and Teaching Your Teens to Drive.

Driver-ZED (Stock #114) is an interactive risk-management computer program that uses live-action footage to put teens in the driver's seat as they confront 100 scenarios and learn to properly respond to the hazards in each (such as work zone construction, an aggressive tailgater, etc.) Teaching Your Teens to Drive (Stock #351) uses a lesson handbook and DVD to guide families (parents/guardians and their teens) through the complicated process of learning to drive.

From today (October 18) through October 26, customers may purchase Driver-ZED and Teaching Your Teens to Drive together for $19.95 (ordinarily bundled at $39.95). The bundle stock number for obtaining both products is 119. Use promo code "TeenBundle" when ordering online, or when calling our fulfillment center, at 800.305.7233.

Each product can also be ordered separately at a discount: to get Driver-ZED for $7, use promo code "TeenZED." For a copy of Teaching Your Teens to Drive, use promo code "TeenTeaching" to get the special $12.95 price. Each product is ordinarily priced at $29.95.

This year's NTDSW theme is "It Takes Two," referring to the crucial roles played by both parents AND teens in the learning-to-drive process. Parental involvement during this period in their sons' and daughters' lives is something we've explored several times, most recently in our series of naturalistic studies of novice driving. Parents and guardians have a wealth of safe driving wisdom that they can share with the young drivers in their families, and they can play an active role in managing their teens' driving. To learn more about our work in this area, please visit www.traffic-payout.org.







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A Renaissance in Driver Education

Posted by Unknown in , , , , , on Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The past few decades have brought some big changes to driver’s ed in the U.S. While the traditional “30/6” model (30 hours classroom instruction, 6 hours behind-the-wheel training) is still a high school staple for many teens across the country, the industry has been evolving in some interesting ways.

Fifteen states, for example, now allow teens to complete driver’s ed requirements online, and private providers have increasingly entered the marketplace and replaced public course offerings. In fact, only about half the states even require teens to take driver education at all, in part due to myriad research findings over the years that have failed to demonstrate that driver’s ed produces safer drivers.

Nonetheless, driver’s ed remains popular in the U.S. as a means of teaching teens the basics of vehicle handling, traffic laws, and safe driving. But with debate raging about its effectiveness, and state economic pressures forcing cuts to public program offerings, we believe that it is time for a renaissance in driver education.

As a starting point for promoting long-term reform in the industry, members of the traffic safety community – including the AAA Foundation – came together for a national forum in early 2009 and adopted the Novice Teen Driver Education and Training Administrative Standards. These guidelines encourage states to upgrade the scope, quality, and oversight of driver education in topic areas such as program administration, content standards, instructor qualifications, and other important aspects of driver training.

As these standards are implemented, Foundation research will continue to help inform future developments and reforms in this area. Later this year, for example, we’ll be releasing findings from our groundbreaking Large Scale Evaluation of Beginner Driver Education, the most comprehensive real-world evaluation of driver education completed since the mid-80s. And our recently-completed reports on online driver education and supplementary training for new drivers touch on some of today’s hot topics in this field.

The end of NYTSM does not mean the end of our efforts to keep teen drivers safe. In fact, now that we’re even closer to summer vacation, all of us need to remember that these carefree months can only be enjoyed if each and every day is safe.

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Online Driver Education Programs?

Posted by Unknown in , , , , , , , , on Thursday, February 23, 2012


Driver Education is a key part of the development of young drivers, so it’s important that the advantages and disadvantages of online programs are made available to help parents choose an appropriate course for their teen.

We recently completed a report based on a study of Online Driver Education programs that was conducted for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  While traditional classroom drivers ed courses remain the norm, the use of online courses has been growing across the country.

The study identified 15 states that had either approved or accepted one or more online courses in‐lieu of traditional, in‐classroom instruction. While much of the curriculum was similar across programs, great variation was found in the manner in which course content was presented. While evaluating the overall safety impact of online driver education was beyond the scope of this study, the report did analyze strong and weak program characteristics in light of existing research and established standards for online learning in general.

The strongest online courses contained:
· interactive exercises
· personal feedback from instructors
· timers to prevent skipping over lessons
· integrated behind-the-wheel components
· parental involvement

The weaker programs were said to be very text heavy, and offered little feedback, allowed quick completion, and didn’t involve parents at all.

There was also considerable variation in the degree to which states exercised oversight of online driver education, with some only approving one centralized, government-affiliated program and others allowing online courses to proliferate virtually unregulated.

In addition to the full report, the Foundation also developed a fact sheet to help educate parents on this issue and highlight the program attributes to keep in mind when considering an online driver education course.

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