Drivers Ed Ahhhhhhh!

[momz]

DD wants to take drivers Ed this summer at 15. Looking at what's available, it seems the online course would be the easiest logistically. The classroom course is three hours each on Monday and Wednesday evenings for 6 weeks and would interfere with my work schedule.

What are the pros and cons of the online course? What age did your child learn to drive? Many here don't start learning until older, even though the law allows it at 15. We live in a busy city. I learned at 15, but I grew up in the country where there was no traffic and half the roads weren't even paved. That was 30 years ago!

A friend's daughter is a sophomore in college and still hasn't learned, but is afraid. My DD however, is a different story. She wants to be free....

 

[cookingqueen]

I may be a bit biased since I was a classroom instructor for 12 years (along with 6 years of in the car instruction) but I think the classroom is a much better option. On line is definitely more convenient- but we are talking about teens learning how to drive a machine that has the potential to hurt someone. I don't think you can replace the in person, teacher experience. I did the 3 hours twice a week and it was definitely an adventure keeping the kids attention - we eventually switched to 2 hrs a night and extended the class.

Good luck with whatever you decide! What I always told parents during our parent night- let your kids drive all of the time, if they are in the car, they should be the driver. Rain, Night Driving, Snow, Highway- these will all be situations they will eventually face, so it is better for you to be in the car to help with the transition.

 

[design_mom]

I am mainly following to read the other responses. You can take drivers ed here at 15-1/2 years old. (You can't take your test till you're 16 though.) My son hits 15.5 in two weeks and he's champing at the bit! I am planning on having him wait till summer because he'll still have plenty of time to prepare before he's eligible for the driver's test. Most kids here get their licenses as soon as, or soon after, they are eligible.

 

[Patch'sD]

In NY, 16 is the age to get a permit. You can get a restricted license at 16, and a full license at 17. I would recommend the On-Line course. I would also recommend that you do most if not all of the hands on training.

 

[JaxDad]

The timing of this is funny. I was just telling my kids this morning my opinion that one of the reasons for so many clueless drivers is the lack of REAL drivers ed! (Of course that is a distant second to cell phones!) Using turn signals, staying right except to pass, putting your tiny car between two lines in a parking lot, etc. all seem to be lost skills. I always think it would be interesting to get rid of automatic transmissions and power steering, so people have to actually drive and not just guide their death machines while they text, update FaceBook, or chow down on a Taco Bell combo meal...

 

[Mickeyluver37]

It's state mandated here- 30 hours in class instruction, and 6 hours behind the wheel. All of the driving schools are privately owned, and parents pay for their kids to attend, with no minimum age. Now, with that said, the instructors do not like you to schedule your 6 hours until you've already been driving with parents, so it's expected that you get your permit and some driving in while you are going through this process.

 

[deedeetoo]

No on-line course allowed here. We also have private companies and they require 30 hour classroom and 12 hours on-road. If you don't pay and take the class, you can't get your license on a normal schedule. I forget how long you have to wait. There is also increased insurance costs if you don't do the class.

 

[Poohforyou]

Our school district has drivers ed as part of gym class during sophomore year. It's an entire marking period. My dd is now 16 and could get her permit here in NJ but she has no desire to at the moment. Well get there in the next year or so.

I think online learning for anything can be difficult for a lot of people. It takes much more self discipline.

Op, could you find a friend/classmate who's also interested and arrange carpooling? Another parent could drop off and you could pick up.

 

[brooke789]

Yep - another state where it's required to get your license. Here you either take it during the school year (all classroom instruction and driving time are during school time) or take a class with a private company. Private company is more expensive, but quicker and doesn't take away from a course you can take in HS.

 

[HM]

This is the first time I've heard of online classes. How does the on-road training work with that?

Also, you don't have to do it at 15. Unless you need her to be driving when she's 16 for some reason, I'd say wait until a time that it's more convenient and do the classroom then.

Our kids had drivers ed after school at the school. Very convenient.

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

Honestly, I think in terms of the classroom training, online is ok. I had driver's ed in the mornings my senior year of H.S and I fell asleep EVERY DAY. It was basically useless for me. I still studied and kept up with the material and passed the course.

For the on-the-road time, you have to actually do it lol. My driver's ed was once a week after school (very hard to finagle with my schedule but I made it work).

 

[momz]

This is the first time I've heard of online classes. How does the on-road training work with that?

Also, you don't have to do it at 15. Unless you need her to be driving when she's 16 for some reason, I'd say wait until a time that it's more convenient and do the classroom then.

Our kids had drivers ed after school at the school. Very convenient.

There is a requirement to drive 6 hours with an instructor, of which there are many. The online portion is to replace the classroom time.

 

[barkley]

DD wants to take drivers Ed this summer at 15. Looking at what's available, it seems the online course would be the easiest logistically. The classroom course is three hours each on Monday and Wednesday evenings for 6 weeks and would interfere with my work schedule.

What are the pros and cons of the online course? What age did your child learn to drive? Many here don't start learning until older, even though the law allows it at 15. We live in a busy city. I learned at 15, but I grew up in the country where there was no traffic and half the roads weren't even paved. That was 30 years ago!

A friend's daughter is a sophomore in college and still hasn't learned, but is afraid. My DD however, is a different story. She wants to be free....

I honestly thought when we moved to an area where the closest public transportation was at least 10 miles away that teens would rush to get their licenses as soon as they could but it's not the case. there's a statewide trend here w/kids waiting until they are at least 18. there are allot of factors but the biggest is the state legislature pretty much stopped funding any driver education in the public schools so at an average cost of $500 to get the mandatory training it's not an inexpensive endeavor.

cost aside-my dd waited till she was just shy of 19. she (and most of her friends) had no desire to drive before then-the schools have activity busses so afterschool stuff entails no need of private transportation. if they want to catch public transportation parents are much more willing to share drop off/pick up at the closest locations b/c it's MUCH less expensive than adding the kid to car insurance (I want to say that the premium I paid when dd got her license at almost 19 was about 1/3rd of what I would have paid at 16). dd did a private school (that's also available on campus periodically during 'zero period' at the public high schools-for the same almost $500 private pay fee). it was an excellent program that did a mix of classroom and actual driving taught almost entirely by retired state highway troopers. it was MUCH more thorough than what I got at school years ago (in town driving, busy neighborhood driving, areas w/lots of unmarked intersections, freeway driving....). honestly-even allot of the college students on campuses near us don't have licenses either. it's too expensive to park on campus and most of the universities provide an all access public transportation pass with full time enrollment.

the only on-line work dd did was the program our car insurance company offers for a slight discount on premiums. between dd's age at licensing, the full bore training she did-we opted for the program that was a step above the state mandated even though dd didn't have to take the state mandated by the time she was ready to get licensed, and making sure we submitted proof of her gpa for another discount it's kept her premiums somewhat reasonable.

 

[mickeyboat]

DD15 is taking drivers ed through her school this semester. We are on block scheduling, and drivers ed is part of gym. I think they will do 7 hours of driving and probably triple that in class time. She really likes and respects her teacher. She takes what he says seriously, and is obviously learning something, because she is constantly criticizing my driving, LOL. I do not think she would have the same experience taking the course on line.

Our school has both an automatic and a standard transmission car, and next month they will learn to drive the standard. I haven't driven one in years, and I am glad she will have the opportunity to learn.

I agree with letting your teen drive all the time. People are shocked when they hear how much and where DD has driven. I want the opportunity to guide her through as many situations as possible before she goes off to do it on her own. Her teacher says she is doing well, so all that driving has paid off.

 

[LynnTH]

DD14 is taking drivers ed right now. We have a company that comes to the school twice a year (Fall and Spring - in between sports). They go for 2 full weeks - right after school at 3:15 to 6:15. DD will be 15 in June so she will be able to get her permit then. Then we schedule her Behind the Wheel at later dates. They do 3 sessions of 2 hours each. The last session we usually do right before they are going to take their driving test to go over everything with the instructor.

 

[mjkacmom]

Here they take drivers education in health class, when they are 16, and must pass the written exam to get a permit (in class). They must take 6 hours of behind the wheel (parent paid) and then can take the driving test at 17. They then have a provisional license until 18.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I think an online class would be fine. Thinking back to my drivers ed course, half the time was wasted with the instructor trying to keep everyone in order and the other half was teaching material straight out of the booklet. Nothing I couldn't have taught myself with a little reading.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have never heard of an online course, either.

My two took their course through school when they were 15 3/4 years old. (They were actually a little past that but that was the minimum age at which you could sign up. Here permits are at 16 and licenses no earlier than 16 1/2, or six months from the time you get a Learner's Permit as there has to be 40 hours of experience to sit for license - at least you have to attest to that.)

They were super-strict with the classes. If a student missed even one, they couldn't move on to driving experience and had to make it up next time the classes were offered, which could be months away. Very rare to miss that class! They also required at least one parent class that went over rules of the Permit and fines, etc. The class also offered some hands on training with the mechanics of a car, which I thought was pretty good.

Beyond that, yup call me a nerd, I read a LOT of articles to my kids about accident statistics - did you know that for teens, for every additional kid in the car, even a sibling, accident rates go up? I think it's because of distraction - talking, music playing, fooling around, etc (even in the absence of DUI). I really wanted them to understand that concept. (We had an accident here last week where a car full of four teens crossed over into oncoming traffic on a straight road and I was thinking of that. They hit a truck and the driver all drivers sustained injuries, luckily nobody was killed, but still.) DH and I also spent a LOT of time going over insurance costs with them (jumped over 400% to add them and another old car on our policy) and how even a speeding ticket would add tremendously to our costs (including them as they help pay the bill). I don't know that it's always 100% effective, but hopefully they get the seriousness of it anyway. I don't think you can be careful enough. Just with my kids' friends I've seen some scary stuff. One day I was driving down the road approaching an intersection when a car passed me illegally at a high rate of speed. My heart was in my mouth, especially when I looked over and saw that I knew the three kids in the car very well and the driver had literally just become licensed. Another of my son's friends, in the rain, hit a tree and flipped his car over, totaling it, within weeks of getting his license, too. Add to that a lot of kids are out drinking and smoking weed and it's like look out! So I'm in the camp of, do it the best way you can.

 

[mickeyboat]

The quality of instruction must vary greatly from program to program, and instructor to instructor. My driver's ed class many years ago was almost straight from the book, with some videos about accidents that scared the pants off of me. I probably could have done it on my own.

My DD's instructor is wonderful. DD mentioned last week that they watched a slide show where the instructor posted photos of a bunch of problematic intersections and situations around our town and surrounding area, and talked about how to maneuver through them. In my state kids study the booklet and take the written test before they receive their permits and before they take drivers ed. They already know the basics when they get to the class, so the instructor can focus on more than just what is in the book.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Also just to add, I agree that getting as much driving experience in all kinds of conditions, with the support of a parent right there teaching them, is invaluable to new drivers as they move on to driving alone, even if it's scary in the moment. I think it's also good to go over things like hydroplaning, black ice (there are YouTube videos on those) and what to do if you do have an accident or if you get pulled over by the police, etc.