Way back in the 1970s, statistical studies began revealing that high school driver education was, at best, worthless.  Way back in the 1970s, driver education began reacting to those finding.  The result is Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL).

Recently, studies in Michigan and North Carolina have shown large decreases in the number of teen automobile crashes, according to the Associated Press.  The improvement is credited to GDL.

The studies do not indicate that teenagers drive any better because of GDL, just that as a group they have fewer accidents. They have fewer accidents because GDL restricts driving, limits the number of teen-aged passengers, prescribes zero tolerance for alcohol/drug use and seat belt non-use.  You cannot drop the ball if you don’t have it.

And you may not even want the ball.  Penalties can be harsh.  Crash or get a ticket and you will not be eligible for a full license for another six months.  Do it again, six more months.  Do it again….

We do not punish adults like that.  Moreover, shouldn’t we have more tolerance for novices?  don’t we naturally expect beginners to make more mistakes?

What about the actual process of learning to drive?  GDL absolves driver ed. of virtually all responsibility by requiring parents to sign a document which states that the teenagers have practice driven under supervision for a prescribed number of hours, varying among the states between about 20 and 50.

So there it is.  The parents do the teaching, and restrictive legislation artificially improves the statistics.  Smoke and mirrors.