Registration open for summer driver’s ed
By Jenna Wilson
Teenagers will have a chance to learn from the experts before they take their driver’s tests thanks to the St. Joseph Safety and Health Council’s summer driving courses.
Registration is now open for the two summer sessions. The first session runs from 8 a.m. to noon on June 3-7, with driving times being held June 8-30.
The second session runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on June 24-28, with driving times being held July 1-22.
Student drivers will receive 20 hours of classroom presentation, 12 hours of vehicle observation and six hours of behind-the-wheel experience.
Enrolling teenagers in certified driving courses allows them to learn advanced driving techniques and skills from a professional, safety experts say.
“It helps them see what other young people are doing and teaches them to not make some of those same mistakes behind the wheel,” said Frank Till, executive director of the safety council. “In addition, they’ll have a few hours of behind-the-wheel experience where they’re actually driving the car with an instructor. It’s an excellent program and it’s growing every year, so if parents are interested, I recommend they get their child signed up quickly.”
In Missouri, roadway fatalities involving teen drivers increased 30% from 2020 to 2022.
At the safety council, half of the teenagers who take their driving permit test for the first time fail, illustrating that many don’t know as many rules of the road as they may think.
“We found out in our research that over 50% of our young people who go to take their driving permit, which they are required to have to join the driver’s lesson or the driver education, fail it their first try,” Till said. “In our permit academy, students sit in class with other students and with the instructors, they go through every single thing on the permit and they even take a sample test. We’ve had a 100% percent success rate of every young person that went to the permit academy and passed the permit test on the first time they took it out of the class.”
In addition to summer driving courses, the safety council offers private driving lessons and other courses year-round. More information can be found at https://www.stjoesafetycouncil.org/.
