Section 41912 Of Article 12. Allowances For Excess Cost Of Driver Training From California Education Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 24. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 12.
41912
. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) To assist in reducing the number of fatalities involving
youthful drivers, a minimum standard of six hours of behind-the-wheel
driver training conducted by a public or private secondary school,
or by a qualified instructor of a licensed private driving school,
shall be established.
(2) According to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, traffic crashes are the number one killer of
teenagers. Per mile driven, teenage drivers are involved in accidents
four times as often as adults.
(3) According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention,
motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among youths 16
to 20 years of age. Nationwide, about 6,000 youths 16 to 20 years of
age, die each year in traffic accidents. Teenage drivers represent
about 7 percent of the country's population, but account for about 17
percent of the victims of fatal crashes.
(4) According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, during 1993,
4,163 people were killed and 315,184 were injured in traffic
accidents across the state.
(5) According to the National Safety Council, driver error causes
69 percent of all automobile collisions. Annually, 11,900,000
accidents occur nationwide resulting in 2,000,000 injuries and 42,000
fatalities. Automobile accidents cost one hundred sixty-seven
billion dollars ($167,000,000,000) annually.
(6) The Department of Motor Vehicles has introduced the first
major revision of the driver's license test since 1933, in
recognition of a need to require first-time drivers to pass an
examination representative of the complex driving conditions
confronting motorists throughout the state. A minimum of six hours of
behind-the-wheel driver training conducted by a public or private
secondary school, or by a qualified instructor of a licensed private
driving school, is required to prepare the first-time driver under 18
years of age to pass this examination.
(b) The expressed purpose of the Legislature is that highway
accidents can and must be reduced through the education and training
of drivers prior to licensing, and that this instruction properly
belongs in the high school curriculum on a basis of having comparable
standards of instruction, quality, teacher-pupil ratio and class
scheduling in driver education as in other courses in the regular
academic program. Only through a high quality program of driver
instruction can the greatest potential in traffic accident prevention
be realized. Further, the state has a responsibility to share in the
reasonable costs of providing those courses.