Young drivers continue to get into more fatal accidents each year, increasing the importance of driver’s education.

From the Alive At 25 Program, which recently debuted at Hinsdale Central High School, to new laws regarding young drivers, Central’s Drivers Education Coordinator Alan Housner discusses how students will be impacted this year.

Q How do you think the “Alive at 25” program adds to the education of young drivers?
How will this program tie in with the drivers education program at Central?

A It is a defensive driving course, which allows the students to recognize people in their age group are more likely to be hurt or killed in a vehicle crash, give their opinion on why people in their age group are at such a high risk, identify actions they can take to keep in control whether they are a driver or a passenger of a vehicle and describe consequences of making poor judgments or taking unnecessary risks in a vehicle. 
Hopefully, the students that participated in the program will carry over these ideas into their driving and decision making skills. Also, we hope they will share their knowledge to other students.

Q What are some of the new state laws regarding drivers education?

A For the new laws you can go to www.central.hinsdale86.org and click on Drivers Education under departments, then go to resources and click on the link that says new laws for Jan. 1 2008.
Some of the changes include:
- Curfew will change to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. weekends
- Students will be required to hold their permit for nine months instead of the three-month period they had before
- One passenger in the car for the first year instead of 6 months

Q How is Hinsdale Central exploring ways to implement the new laws?

A We are working with Hinsdale South to see what our options are and how we will proceed from there.
With the elimination of simulator we will need to give the students more behind-the-wheel driving time.
I’m sure that new schedules will be needed to accommodate the extra time.

Q What is the biggest challenge young drivers face, and what does Central focus on the most when teaching driver’s ed?

A The biggest challenge would have to be making good decisions. We work on strategies with the students. We put them into various situations and do some brain storming to see what they would identify and how they would handle the situation. Not only driving situations, but real life situations. We have Officer  Talerico come in with DARE program and some other guest speakers to talk with the students and share their experiences.