# Presentation: 318919

## Status Study of Comprehensive and Relevant Driver Education Program in the State of IllinoisPresentation given at Forum on Driver Education and Training, National Transportation Safety Board 29 October 2003Washington, D.C.

**Dale O. Ritzel, Ph.D.**
**Southern Illinois University**
**Safety Center**
**Carbondale, IL 62901-6731**
_**[safety@siu.edu](mailto:safety@siu.edu)**__** **_
**1.618.453.2080**

## Background

**Although driver education has been taught in the State of Illinois and throughout the United States since the 1940's (or earlier in some cases), little was currently known about how driver education teachers and high school students view driver education in the State of Illinois.  **
**Because of this lack of knowledge about driver education, researchers from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC), through funding IDOT and ITRC initiated the Status Study of Comprehensive and Relevant Driver Education Programs in the State of Illinois.**

## Purpose

**determine specific subject areas covered in driver education in the State of Illinois and time spent on each and subject areas which need to be included which are not currently addressed.**

## Methods

** ****	****The methods to accomplish the goals of the study included a comprehensive literature review of driver education.**

## Methods

**In order to determine specific subject areas covered in driver education and time spent on each area, two separate, but similar questionnaires were developed.  **
**The only difference in the questionnaires was in the demographic data information asked. The Cronbach Coefficient Alpha reliabilities for the student version of the survey were .935 and .955 for the  ‘Did Spend' and ‘Should Spend' subsections, respectively.  For the version for the teachers, the reliabilities were .938 and  .955, respectively. **

## Methods

**One questionnaire was developed and mailed to every high school in Illinois.  **
**The instructions with this survey asked that it be completed by a knowledgeable driver education teacher from the district.  **
**A total of 268 surveys were returned and analyzed.  This represented 43% of the total of 621 schools who were sent surveys.  **
**Although a survey was sent to every secondary school in Illinois, several schools are part of a school system where two or more schools are coordinated by one driver education supervisor.  Several surveys were answered for the schools that form a school system; therefore, the actual  return rate was slightly higher.**

## Methods

**The second questionnaire was developed and personally administered by SIUC project staff to students in randomly selected districts from all ten regions of Illinois as defined by the Illinois High School and College Driver Education Association.  **
**A total of 488 surveys were completed by high school students from thirteen schools, which far exceeds the project goal of receiving 200 completed surveys from high s school students.  **
**Two schools were sampled in Region 1 (Chicago) because of its huge population base.  Two schools were sampled in Region 8 because neither school was able to supply the twenty students necessary to achieve a project goal of sampling at least twenty students per region.  Two schools were sampled in Region 10 because of its vast geographical area.**

## Methods

**All ten regions of the state were represented in the survey process with the most highly populated regions being over sampled.  **
**Two hundred and ninety eight surveys were completed by students in the five most populated regions while 190 were completed by students in the least populated regions.  **
**The schools sampled represented the diversity of students in the State of Illinois, including gender, racial mix, urban/rural, large/small, etc.**

## The schools where students were surveyed are listed below by region:

- 	**	****Region 1****	****Chicago Bogan and Chicago ****	****	****	****	****Curie**
**	****	****Region 2****	****Proviso West**
**	****	****Region 3****	****Plainfield**
**	****	****Region 4****	****St. Charles**
**	****	****Region 5****	****Geneseo**
**	****	****Region 6****	****Peoria Woodruff**
**	****	****Region 7 ****	****Tolono Unity**
**	****	****Region 8****	****Robinson and Stewardson-****	****	****	****	****Strasburg**
**	****	****Region 9****	****Greenfield**
**	****	****Region 10   Murphysboro and Edwards ****	****	****	****	****County**

## Questionnaire

**Each questionnaire listed twenty-six possible topic areas along with two "other" areas where the respondents could add another topic that might not have been listed.  Both the teachers and students were asked to recall the amount of time spent on each particular topic and to specify how much time "should" be spent on the particular topic.  **
** ****	****Comparisons were then made between the "actual" time spent and the time that "should" have been spent for each topic.**

## Driver Education Topics Used in Study

**Social/Economic Consequences**
**Emotions and Driving**
**Rules of the Road**
**Physical Limits of Other Drivers**
**Vehicle Dynamics**
**Impaired States of Alertness**
**Basic Vehicle Control**
**Visual Scanning**
**Hazard Identification/Recognition**
**Time-Space-Distance Estimates**
**Predicting the Action of Others**
**Decision Making in Traffic**
**Speed Control**

**Vehicle Positioning**
**Handling Driving Emergencies**
**Handling Special Situations**
**Vehicle Maintenance**
**Self-assessing of Driving Performance**
**Alcohol, Drugs, and Driving**
**Driving Responsibility**
**Occupant Protection**
**Having a Positive Attitude**
**Communication Techniques**
**Fuel-Efficient Driving**
**Vehicle Ownership Responsibility**

## Major Findings

**Teachers:**
**The median time (spent or should be spent) is at least one hour for every topic item.  For 15 of the 26 topics, teachers would like to spend more time (approximately one-hour more).  **
**For one topic, (Item 19:  Alcohol, Drugs, and Their Effects on Driving) the typical teacher would like to spent at least two more hours.**

## Major Findings

**Students:**
**Indicated that in all except four cases, they wanted more time spent on the topics than the did the teachers.  **
**On two topics, (Item 8:  Visual Scanning and Item 11:  Predict the Action of Others) there was no difference between the amount of time that the students and teachers felt "should" be spent.  **
**On two other topics, (Item 5:  Rules of the Road and Item 19:  Alcohol, Drugs, and Their Effects on Driving) the teachers would like more time spent than the students would like.**

## Figure 1.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Social and Economic Consequence

**Figure 1.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Social and Economic Consequence**

## Figure 2.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Emotions and Driving

**Figure 2.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Emotions and Driving**

## Figure 3.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Rules of the Road

**Figure 3.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Rules of the Road**

## Figure 4.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Physical Limits of Other Drivers

**Figure 4.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Physical Limits of Other Drivers**

## Figure 5.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Vehicle Dynamics

**Figure 5.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Vehicle Dynamics**

## Figure 6.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Impaired States of Alertness

**Figure 6.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Impaired States of Alertness**

## Figure 7.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Basic Vehicle Control

**Figure 7.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Basic Vehicle Control**

## Figure 8.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Visual Scanning

**Figure 8.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Visual Scanning**

## Figure 9.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Hazard Identification/Recognition

**Figure 9.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Hazard Identification/Recognition**

## Figure 10.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Time-Space-Distance Estimates

**Figure 10.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Time-Space-Distance Estimates**

## Figure 11.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Predicting the Action of Others

**Figure 11.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Predicting the Action of Others**

## Figure 12.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Decision Making in Traffic

**Figure 12.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Decision Making in Traffic**

## Figure 13.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Speed Control

**Figure 13.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Speed Control**

## Figure 14.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Vehicle Positioning

**Figure 14.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Vehicle Positioning**

## Figure 15.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Handling Driving Emergencies

**Figure 15.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Handling Driving Emergencies**

## Figure 16.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Handling Special Situations

**Figure 16.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Handling Special Situations**

## Figure 17.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Vehicle Maintenance

**Figure 17.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Vehicle Maintenance**

## Figure 18.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Self-Assessing of Driving Performance

**Figure 18.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Self-Assessing of Driving Performance**

## Figure 19.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Alcohol, Drugs and Driving

**Figure 19.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Alcohol, Drugs and Driving**

## Figure 20.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should on Driving Responsibility

**Figure 20.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should on Driving Responsibility**

## Figure 21.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Occupant Protection

**Figure 21.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Occupant Protection**

## Figure 22.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Having a Positive Attitude

**Figure 22.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Having a Positive Attitude**

## Figure 23.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Communication Techniques

**Figure 23.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Communication Techniques**

## Figure 24.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Fuel-Efficient Driving

**Figure 24.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Fuel-Efficient Driving**

## Figure 25.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Vehicle Ownership Responsibility

**Figure 25.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Vehicle Ownership Responsibility**

## Figure 26.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Driving in Adverse Conditions

**Figure 26.  Comparison of Hours Spent vs. Should Spend on Driving in Adverse Conditions**

## Conclusions

**Teachers who teach in and students who have completed high school driver education programs want more hours devoted to most of the topics covered in the program.  **
**Teachers and students want more time spent on social and economic consequences of driving, emotions and driving, vehicle dynamics, impaired states of alertness, hazard identification and recognition, time-space-distance estimates, decision making in traffic, speed control, vehicle positioning, special situations, self-assessing of driving performance, alcohol, drugs, and driving, driving responsibility, occupant protection, and communication techniques.  **
**More specifically, both teachers and students want a lot more time spent on alcohol, drugs and driving.  Finally students, in particular, want more time devoted to the various topics in the driver education program than do teachers.**

## Key Recommendations

**Illinois must consider strengthening the minimum requirements of high school driver education, which should include basic driver education and further enhanced driver education.  **
**Raise the current minimum time spend in Illinois high school driver education from the 30 + 6 hours program to 45 + 10 hours program.**

## Key Recommendations

**Illinois needs to consider additional funding of high school driver education through increased driver licensing fees, fines for persons put on court supervision, etc.**
**Illinois high school driver education courses should consider including instruction on the use of cellular phones, car jacking prevention, emergency off-road recovery, and standard transmission shifting.**

## Key Recommendations

**Federal, state, local, and private groups and agencies should work closely together to strengthen driver education programs in order to increase young drivers' knowledge and skills as they relate to the safe performance of the driving.**
**NHTSA**
**Div. of Traffic Safety, IDOT**
**Illinois State Board of Education**
**Illinois Secretary of State**
**Illinois High School and College Driver Education Association**
**High School Teachers**
**Universities**
**Schools and School Administrators**
**Vehicle Procurement**

## Key Recommendations

**The Illinois high school driver education course should particularly increase the number of hours devoted to instruction on alcohol, drugs and their effects on driving.  Other areas that should have increased instruction include:**
**	****a.  social and economic consequences of driving**
**	****b.  emotions and driving**
**	****c.  vehicle dynamics**
**	****d.  impaired states of alertness**
**	****e.  hazard identification and recognition**
**	****f.   decision making in traffic situations**
**	****g.  speed control**
**	****h.  vehicle positioning**
**	****i.   handling special situations**
**	****j.   driving responsibility**
**	****k.  occupant protection**
**	****l.   communication techniques**

## Limitations of the Study

**The hour category of 5+ puts a limit on the actual number of hours students/teachers had in the driver education program and the number of hours they would like to see.**
**Some people had trouble determining the actual hours spent in the driver education program because they perceived overlapping of some of the topics on the questionnaire.**
**Some students who had received courses longer ago had trouble remembering what topics they had in the driver education course and classifying topics into appropriate areas.**
**The response rate for the questionnaires sent to the schools was not as high as we desired.**