A Petition Has Been Created to Keep Driver’s Education Mandatory in Idaho

If the thought of young teens hitting the road for the very first time without any formal instruction sort of frightens you, you are not alone. Idahoans have a created a petition on Change.org to state legislatures to keep driver's ed mandatory here in Idaho.

A couple of weeks ago a bill was proposed in the House to remove the driver's education class requirement. If the bill is ultimately approved and signed into law then teens could apply for a learner's permit at age 14.

This bill does not eliminate driver's ed altogether; it simply would give parents the choice to opt-out of the driver's education class and oversee their children's driving training themselves. 50 hours of supervised driving with a licensed parent or guardian would still be required for learning drivers.

Growing up in a rural environment, It's not uncommon for teens even younger than age 14 to already have some driving experience under their belt. For example, I had a lot of friends who knew how to drive a truck around their parent's farm before some of us had even hit puberty! However the petition brings up the point that Idaho is becoming less and less rural as one of the fastest growing cities.

One petitioner stated, "as an instructor I see the dangers and what it takes to teach a teen driver. We put hundreds of kids through our program monthly. We are only one of the many in the area. Imagine several hundred new drivers on the road monthly with no instructor teaching them. Just their parents who don’t know what to look for or even how to drive safely themselves some of the time."

As of Wednesday night, 259 people have already signed the petition. The goal is 500 signatures.