#3036

SECTION 1. Chapter 10 of the general laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 75. There is hereby established on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund known as the Young Driver Education Trust Fund. Said trust fund shall consist of monies paid to the commonwealth pursuant to section 20 of chapter 90 requiring a 5 per cent surcharge on all assessments for moving violations and any interest or investment earnings on such monies. The state treasurer, ex officio, shall be the custodian of said trust fund and shall receive, deposit and invest all monies transmitted to him under this section and shall credit interest and earnings on the trust fund to the fund. Funds collected pursuant to said section 20 shall be expended without further appropriation for the purpose of maintaining driver education courses in public schools for high school students, as required by section 13D of chapter 71. In order to ensure that such courses are continued without interruption, the comptroller may certify for payment amounts in anticipation of revenues collected for the corresponding quarter during the previous fiscal year.

(This bill will increase the fees charged young drivers for mistakes made by them on the road. The young drivers are already penalized at a much higher rate than any other group of drivers. A teen driver under the age of 18 upon receiving their first speeding ticket currently loses their license for a minimum of 90 days and is required to take addition education and pay reinstatement fees totaling over a thousand dollars before they can get their driver's license back. Additional fees are only going to create more of a burden on these young drivers and their parents.)

#3061

SECTION 1. Section 32G of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, in line 199, after the word “section”, the following:-

The registrar may approve a driver education curriculum presented in an online format.

(Online driver education lacks monitoring and accountability. A student now must physically attend the 30 hours of classroom instruction taught by a driver education professional that has him or herself been trained and is licensed to instruct driver education by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Registry of Motor Vehicles after undergoing an extensive training program. The lack of this element in the training of our young drivers will have a very negative effect oin the quality of driver education and subsequently result in an increase in motor vehicle crashes and fatalities for both teens and others involved in accidents involving our teen drivers. This particular bill would take away any accountability for the teen themselves being able to pass a certified driver education program with a minimum level of proficiency).

#3104

SECTION 1. The responsibility and jurisdiction for driver education and training should be transferred as expeditiously as possible from the Registry of Motor Vehicles to the Department of Education. SECTION 2. Driver education and training should be financed by a combination of parent-student tuition and fees collected by the Registry of Motor Vehicles. They should also be assisted and supported by automobile manufacturers and dealers and by incentives provided by the insurance industry. SECTION 3. The Department of Education will be required to assume the responsibility for driver education and training throughout the commonwealth in all secondary high schools, and that the legislative committees on public safety facilitate the proper and orderly transfer of those responsibilities from the Registry of Motor Vehicles to the Department of Education as expeditiously as possible.

(With all due respect to the Department of Education, they are already overburdened with the educational requirements of your children as it is. The added burden of being responsible for the administration of driver education training is best left to the Registry of Motor Vehicles as a division of the Department of Transportation. The requirement of providing driver education in the public school system is one that has been debated often, and has never come to fruition because of the extensive requirements for the proper training of our youth.

These 3 bills are all an attempt to change the driver education process as we all know it.

First and foremost the current Driver Education requirements are that a student under the age of 18 must complete a certified driver education program consisting of 30 hours of classroom instruction, 12 hours behind the wheel driving instruction and 6 hours of observing another student driving.

Each element of that training is supervised by a driver education instructor that has undergone extensive training and has passed a test administered by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.

The instructors must undergo a 65 hour training program including observing a complete classroom training session, 10 hours in the vehicle observing a licensed driving instructor in the instruction of a student, student teaching in the classroom and administrative requirements.

These instructors devote their time exclusively to developing safe and responsible driving habits in the students that they instruct and allowing a football coach, a high school gym teacher, or the school custodian to take on this additional responsibility would have an adverse effect on the quality of driver education. Leave the training of our most precious possession {our children} to the professionals where it belongs.