Southwords
December 1967
Driver Ed key to safety
Every day hundreds of people are senselessly slaughtered on our nation's highways. This fact directly affects us, for we are the age group that is involved in the greatest number of accidents and whose insurance rates are therefore higher.
Southwords wishes to commend the driver education program for doing something about this teenage driving problem. The driver safety course and the behind-the-wheel program help us to become safer, more responsible drivers.
Insurance companies have recognized the fact that drivers who pass the course in high school are better risks and have given these students a reduction of up to 15 percent on their insurance premiums.
The efficiency of the driver education program in producing safer teenage drivers is exemplified in a law recently passed by the Illinois legislature. According to the law, a student cannot receive his permit or license until the age of eighteen unless he has successfully completed the driver education program at his high school.
The driver education program at South has thrived since the school opened three years ago. Of the five sessions held yearly, three last for thirteen weeks during the regular school year and two run for four weeks in summer school. Because of the increasing volume of students desiring to take the course, the driver education department has increased its staff from four to five instructors.
The cost to a student for driver education is extremely small, but the benefits he receives are many. A student must pay five dollars for his permit and three dollars for textbook and workbook rental. It costs an adult taking the same driver education course in adult evening school forty-six dollars.
For each student who completes the driver training program, the state of Illinois' driver education fund reimburses the school forty dollars; eight dollars for the safety course the student takes as a sophomore and thirty-two dollars for the behind-the-wheel training a student receives as a junior or senior. Last year Maine Township received almost $73,000 from the state for the driver education program.
Southwords congratulates South's 82 new drivers who passed their drivers license examinations last week after completing the driver education training here. We hope that advancements will continue to be made in improving the driver education program in high schools and therefore improving teen drivers.