Are Driving Schools Worth It? Part Two

Are Driving Schools Worth It?

PART TWO

                The following table shows some of the results from around the world, of surveys and studies, on the purported value of Driver Education. As you can see, irrespective of country or type, Driver Education classes seem to be meaningless, except as a knowledge source.

SPC mentioned = Safe Performance Curriculum, a specially devised course.

Reference	Design	Results	Methodological Strengths/Limitations
Dreyer and Janke 1979 California	2,057 students randomly assigned to two training conditions	Those receiving range practice had fewer recorded crashes, but tests scores were no different	Randomized control trial                 Intermediate measures                 No follow-up survey for exposure & behavioral measures
Ray et al. 1980 Stock et al. 1983 DeKalb County, Georgia	Intensive, minimal, and no driver education groups                 About 6,000 students randomly assigned to each group	Intensive training (SPC) drivers had better skills and fewer crashes during first 6 months, but not beyond	Comprehensive randomized controlled trial                 Long follow-up – 6 years                 Formative evaluations and intermediate outcomes measures
Wynne-Jones and Hurst 1984 New Zealand	788 students, 561 received course, 227 family/friend taught                 Random assignment	No reduction in collisions for driver education group	Adequate design                 Small control group                 No formative evaluation or intermediate outcomes
Gregersen 1994 Sweden	850 students received driver education course compared to controls                 Random assignment	Driver education group significantly worse first year, significantly better second year	Longer follow-up – 2 years                 Reasonable sample size
Masten and Chapman 2003; 2004 California	1,300 students randomly assigned to one of four instructional settings	Home-based methods better for 1 knowledge and attitude test, classroom better for DMV knowledge test	Sample size adequate                 Well planned and controlled                 Psychometric measures only
Forsyth et al. 1995 United Kingdom	Survey of 15,000 new drivers	Longer time learning to drive associated with fewer crashes for males             More driving education was associated with more crashes	Several follow-ups over time                 Self-selection bias            Self-reported data only
Howarth et al. 2000 Australia	Self-report crash effects for in-car training effects	Substantial differences, but not significant	Sample size too small
McKenna et al. 2000 Pennsylvania	Survey and crash records                 Random sampling for survey	Driver education not associated with lower crashes or convictions	Multi-variate statistical analysis used to control for confounding variables                 SES missing from control variables
Lonero et al. 2005 Manitoba	Survey and crash records                 Random sampling for survey	Driver education not associated with lower crashes or convictions	Multi-variate statistical analysis used to control for confounding variables
Wiggins 2005 British Columbia	Cohort record study                 Case control study with survey and records	New graduated license holders who took driver education had 26% more crashes	Multi-variate statistical analysis used to control for confounding variables
Zhao et al. 2005 Ontario	Self-report survey of high school students	Driver education associated with fewer crashes for learner license holders	Multi-variate statistical analysis used to control for confounding variables
Pezoldt et al. (2007) Texas	Focus groups, surveys, and driver records	Parent-taught teens less safe.	Comprehensive approach with intermediate measures
Robertson and Zador 1978 27 U.S. States	Modeling study of driver education and fatal crash rates	No relation between proportion taking driver education and fatality rates	Not program specific
Robertson 1980 Connecticut	School boards with and without driver education	For school boards without driver education, total licensing and crashes of 16- and 17-year-olds decreased by 10-15%	Not enough data analysis presented
Potvin et al. 1988 Québec	Mandatory driver education introduced in Québec for all (formerly just 16-17 year olds)	Increased number of young driver crashes due to increased number of licensed females aged 16-17	Large sample size                 Different timeframes for treatment and control groups
Levy 1990 USA 47 States	Large-scale modeling study of effects of mandatory driver education	Small but significant beneficial effect on fatal crashes	Not program specific
Carstensen 2002 Denmark	Mandatory driver education, new curriculum	Reduced crashes	Large sample size                 No control of confounding variables

It is especially interesting to note the 2 yellow highlighted areas....in one, a 26% INCREASE in crashes if they took driver education classes, in another, a 10-15% REDUCTION in crashes if there was NO driver education classes.

I leave the reader to draw his or her own conclusion.