Here’s a news release from Bill Seymour, the communications director at the state Department of Motor Vehicles, with some editing by the Blogster.
“Connecticut’s new two-hour training requirement for parents, the first in the nation when adopted in 2008, is successful in its aim to educate parents about safety risks and other issues associated with their teenager driving for the first time. A recent federally funded survey done for the DMV shows that 85 percebnt of the parents reported that the training gave them more information to use in their parenting responsibilities with a teen driver; 82 percent they would recommend these classes to parents of other teen drivers, and nearly half said that the session caused them to do something different to improve their own training of their teen drivers.
The survey also measured their knowledge and understanding of some critical issues with teen driving. While only about half knew that teen brain development issues could impair their driving, more than 65 percent were aware of the basic passenger restriction and curfew laws. This is the first such study done in the country on a required parent information session in the training process for teen drivers.
In the survey, almost half the parents also said that because of the training, they were doing things with their young drivers they would not have done otherwise, such as enforcing the laws, reminding young drivers about the laws and dedicating more quality time for instruction. Almost all parents were satisfied that all relevant topics were covered during the course.
All new drivers in Connecticut are required to take an eight-hour safe driving practices course at a driving school. Parents are required to attend two of these hours with their young driver to learn about various safety matters. The Department of Motor Vehicles provides driving schools with a general list of topics that must be covered in the two-hour parent/teen session.”