II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1729 

To establish driver education curriculum for teenage drivers and to provide 

grants to States and tribal governments to carry out driver education 

training for licensed teenage drivers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 

Mr. SCHUMER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish driver education curriculum for teenage drivers 

and to provide grants to States and tribal governments 

to carry out driver education training for licensed teenage drivers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. CONTINUED DRIVER EDUCATION COURSES. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find5 ings: 

6 (1) Automobile crashes are the leading cause of 

7 death of teenagers in the United States. 


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1 (2) Every year, more than 5,000 teenagers die 

2 from fatal injuries suffered in automobile accidents 

3 in the United States and an additional 400,000 

4 teenage drivers are seriously injured. 

5 (3) According to the American Automobile As6 sociation, research on the effectiveness of driver edu7 cation indicates that graduates of driver education 

8 programs have 50 percent fewer accidents per capita 

9 than drivers who have not received driver education. 

10 (b) DEFINED TERM.—In this Act, the term ‘‘teen11 ager’’ means any person who is at least 16 years of age 

12 and younger than 20 years of age. 

13 (c) CONTINUED DRIVER EDUCATION PROGRAM.— 

14 Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall develop 

16 curriculum for continued driver education courses for 

17 teenagers, which shall include classroom and driving in18 struction. 

19 (d) CONTINUED DRIVER EDUCATION TRAINING

20 GRANTS.— 

21 (1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—Not later than 90 

22 days after the development of curriculum under sub23 section (c), the Secretary of Transportation shall es24 tablish a program to award grants to States and 


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1 tribal governments to provide continued driver train2 ing courses for teenagers who are licensed drivers. 

3 (2) APPLICATION.—A State or tribal govern4 ment desiring a grant under this subsection shall 

5 submit an application that describes— 

6 (A) the individual who will teach the driver 

7 training course; 

8 (B) the locations at which the course will 

9 be taught; and 

10 (C) how the teaching methods that will be 

11 used in the course are consistent with the cur12 riculum developed by the Secretary under sub13 section (c). 

14 (3) PRIORITY.—In approving applications for 

15 grants submitted under paragraph (2), the Secretary 

16 shall give priority to States and tribal governments 

17 that— 

18 (A) maximize the participation of teenage 

19 drivers in the proposed driver training course; 

20 and 

21 (B) supplement the grant funds received 

22 under this subsection with additional Federal, 

23 State, tribal government, or private resources to 

24 carry out the driver training course. 


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1 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

3 as may be necessary to carry out the grant program 

4 authorized under this subsection. 

Æ 


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