Is the state's driving test really a fair measure of competence behind the wheel? Are we doing a decent job teaching teens to drive?
That's what Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, was asking last week.
The answer, he and some state officials say, is probably a "no" to both.
Officials at the Department of Motor Vehicles admit their test could use some updates. For one, they don't require applicants to merge onto freeways. Some type of higher-speed merges should be included.
Money problems, meanwhile, have caused public schools to back away from offering classroom driver education courses and the behind-the-wheel training courses.
Education officials say only 25 percent of public high schools still offer those classes. The number drops annually.
Instead, many teens now get driver education certificates by sitting at their computers and completing online "courses" offered by private, unmonitored companies.
This wouldn't necessarily be an issue except that teen drivers continue to have a much higher rate of fatal and injury crashes. The Sacramento area, in particular, has a reputation as an epicenter of bad teen crashes.
Driving is getting more complicated by almost anyone's account. Speeds are higher, streets are more crowded, and drivers' eyes are constantly shifting from the road to their iPhones, CD players, and even dashboard computer screens listing local movie times.
Torlakson, a former teacher, is fighting back. He's promoting what he calls the "Young Driver Education and Safety Fund."
The bill, SB 1114, would add $10 to the existing $27 fee that drivers pay when they take the test for their license at the DMV.
The money, Torlakson said, could go toward rebuilding the state's driver education programs in public high schools. Or some could go to allow the DMV to improve its driving test.
There is plenty of debate over how to modernize the state's teaching approach, which is a half-century old.
Private driver training school operators argue the state should require many more hours of training. That would mean teens would have to pay hundreds of dollars more to private operators.
Torlakson wonders if more teens are waiting until they are 18 to get their licenses to save money. At age 18, beginners are not required to take any driving instruction, either in class or behind the wheel.
They just have to manage to pass the DMV test – it often takes a couple of tries – and they can hit the road pretty much clueless.
Officials at DMV and the California Highway Patrol say they are seeing some recent crash rate "spikes" among 18-year-old drivers that suggest that might be happening.
Torlakson acknowledges any effort to bring driver education back to high schools faces a big hurdle: Curricula are jammed with more requirements than ever. It may be hard for schools to squeeze driver education back into the school day.
Torlakson said he and the Legislature shouldn't make the call on where the money goes. His bill would establish a commission – including DMV, the CHP, teachers, insurance companies – to decide how to spend the money.
The bill may face a tough road to passage because it involves a fee increase and is vague on how the money would be spent. It's up for debate in early March.
E-mail your transportation concerns to backseat@sacbee.com or call The Bee's Tony Bizjak at (916) 321-1059. Please leave your name and a telephone number.
