BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2098
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 23, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 2098 (Jones) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
SUBJECT : Driver education and training
SUMMARY : Requires 18- and 19-year old driver's license
applicants to complete driver education and training.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) from issuing
a driver's license to a person who is 18 or 19 years of age
unless the person:
a) Has held an instruction permit for not less than six
months prior to applying for the driver's license. (DMV
would be required to issue the instruction permit upon
satisfactory completion of a written examination.)
b) Has complied with one of the following:
i. Satisfactory completion of on approved course
in automobile driver education and driver training in
any secondary school of California, or equivalent
instruction in a secondary school of another state.
ii. Satisfactory completion of an integrated
driver education and training program that is approved
by DMV and conducted by a licensed driving instructor.
(This program would be required to utilize segmented
modules, whereby a portion of the educational
instruction is provided by, and then reinforced
through, specific behind-the-wheel training before
moving to the next phase of driver education and
training. The program would also be required to
contain a minimum of 30 hours of classroom instruction
and six hours of behind-the-wheel training.)
iii. Satisfactory completion of six hours or more
of behind-the-wheel instruction by a driving school or
a licensed independent driving instructor and
satisfactory completion of either an accredited course
in automobile driver education in any secondary school
AB 2098
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of California or equivalent professional instruction
that is acceptable to DMV. (To be acceptable to DMV,
the professional instruction would be required to meet
minimum standards that may be prescribed by DMV, and
the standards would be at least equal to the
requirements for driver education and driver training
contained in the rules and regulations adopted by the
State Board of Education.)
c) Has successfully complete a driving test, as required by
DMV.
1)Prohibits a student from taking driver training instruction,
unless he or she has successfully completed driver education.
2)Prohibits the governing board of a school district from
requiring a person who has completed DMV-approved driver
education and training elsewhere to be required to complete
driver education and training at a secondary school in order
to graduate from high school.
3)Allows DMV to issue a distinctive driver's license that
displays a distinctive color or a distinctively colored stripe
or other distinguishing characteristic, to a person who is 18
or 19 years of age.
4)Allows changes in the format or appearance of driver's
licenses adopted for these purposes to be implemented under
any new contract for the production of driver's licenses
entered into after the adoption of those changes.
5)Requires a driver's license applicant to wait for not less
than one week after failure of the written test and for not
less than two weeks after failure of the driving test before
retaking a license examination or test.
EXISTING LAW : Requires DMV to issue provisional driver's
licenses to successful driver's license applicants who are under
the age of 18. These licenses include restrictions on certain
driving activities and require applicants to complete driver
education and training. No such restrictions or requirements
apply to applicants or licensees 18 years of age or older.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
AB 2098
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COMMENTS : Current law establishes a graduated driver's license
(GDL) program for drivers who first obtain their licenses at the
age of 16 or 17. Besides putting restrictions on when, and
under what conditions, these licensees may exercise their
driving privilege, the GDL program also requires 16- and 17-year
old driver's license applicants to have completed driver's
education and behind-the-wheel driver training. Those
requirements do not apply to applicants 18 years of age or
older.
The GDL program is widely, and correctly, perceived to have been
a major success in that teen driving accidents, injuries, and
deaths have declined substantially since its inception. That
success, however, has been somewhat tempered by the realization
that the steep decline in incidents involving drivers under 18
has been somewhat offset by an increase in incidents involving
drivers 18 and 19 years of age.
Whether in response to the GDL program restrictions, shifts in
societal values, or some combination thereof, an increasing
number of teens are delaying their initial licensure until they
are 18 or older. Various studies have shown that the first year
or so of driving by a newly licensed driver tends to carry the
most danger, whether that driver is 16, 18, or indeed any age.
Thus, it is not surprising that drivers who wait until they are
18 to obtain a license pose a greater danger than 18-year olds
who have been licensed or driving for a year or two. This
phenomenon is compounded by the fact that the newly-licensed
18-year old has may well not have had driver's education or
driver training, since those are voluntary after the age of 17.
In response to this situation, this bill requires 18- and
19-year old driver's license applicants to complete the same
courses in driver education and behind-the-wheel instruction as
younger applicants who would obtain a provisional driver's
license. These older applicants for a driver's license would
not be required to complete 50 hours of practice driving or be
restricted from driving during late-night hours; further, they
would not be restricted from transporting certain passengers.
While requiring driver's education and training for 18- and
19-year old license applicants would almost certainly improve
their driving skills and reduce their accident rates in their
AB 2098
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first months and years of driving, a change in statute would not
come without a cost and would probably not be well-received by
all of the targeted teens nor their parents. Driver's education
and training are time-consuming and involve an expense that may
be difficult for some families to bear. For those teens who
have delayed applying for a license specifically to avoid these
requirements, this bill may be perceived as the Legislature
"moving the goalposts." Finally, there is some danger that
those older teens who are determined to drive but unwilling or
unable to meet these requirements will choose to drive without a
license.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Traffic School Association
DriversEd.com
Driving School Association of California
Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc.
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093