Charles Shiflett Column Jan

Preston Smith Wrong On Driver's Ed Bill

A few years ago, our family experienced the pain of a needless teen driving death. After attending
church on a nice Sunday evening in April, my wife's nephew Wesley left with one of his friends. They
would never make it home. I'll never forget the phone call I received later that Sunday night from
Wesley's grandmother. I silently stood in shock as my mind tried to comprehend what had happened.

Someone had removed a stop sign where two roads merged together. Wesley's friend probably never
realized what had happened as he went through the merge at full speed, colliding with a car on the
main road. Both Wesley and his friend were killed instantly.

Wesley would have graduated high school just a few weeks later. He was one of the good kids…
active at school and at church. He planned to attend college pursuing a career in law enforcement.
Unfortunately, Wesley's death was not an isolated incident.

I dare say everyone reading the column would agree that too many teenagers are dying on Georgia's
roads. We have a serious problem and the time to act is now. However, I strongly disagree with one of
the solutions being promoted by many… including my state senator and friend Preston Smith. Yes,
Republicans do disagree occasionally.

Smith plans to introduce legislation that would bring back driver's education programs to Georgia's
public schools. His funding mechanism would be additional fees added to traffic tickets.

Smith and others are correct in saying that driver's education is needed. I would go a step further and
mandate that any Georgia resident applying for a license for the first time would have to complete a
comprehensive state certified education course that would include both classroom instruction and time
behind the wheel with a qualified instructor.

However, Georgia schools are not the place for these courses. First there are potential liability issues.
Second, with the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and other state level
education reforms, the school day is full with no room for another elective.

School system administrators are already bogged down trying to meet the requirements of the various
reform plans and do not need another program to manage, even if scheduled after regular school
hours. And as with any state mandated proposal, there will always be hidden costs that won't be
covered by the state. Here in Bartow County, the county school system's property tax levy is almost
at the maximum millage as allowed by state law. We can't afford anything else.

Smith's proposal fails the most basic test of conservative principles… government, inefficient by
nature, should almost never operate a program or supply a service that can be handled as well or
better by the private sector. This is clearly one of those programs.

The proposal also fails a second test... Smith plans to pay for the drivers education program through
increased fees added to traffic tickets. As I wrote in a column earlier this month, politicians are too
eager to raise funds for new programs by adding fees to existing items. Smith's new fees are a new
tax, plain and simple.

So what's the solution? It's very simple… Allow private companies to own and operate state certified
driver education centers. Instead of using tax dollars, taxpaying businesses would use their own
capital to open these centers across the state and provide jobs for driving instructors.

So who pays? Driving is a privilege, not a right. This may sound cold, but if you can afford a car and
insurance, then you can afford a one-time fee of about $150 to pay for your own driver's training. Plus
most auto insurance companies offer substantial discounts for teen drivers who complete a driver's
education course, helping to negate the cost.

As is the case with any piece of legislation, Smith's proposal is subject to change. Hopefully he and
other conservatives will re-examine this issue. Preston and I agree on the critical need for driver
training, we just disagree on the mechanism for achieving the desired results.

There are other teen driving proposals up for discussion during this session of the General Assembly…
several which deserve serious consideration. It's up to us to let our legislators know we want action.