DRIVERS EDUCATION BENEFITS STUDENTS

The driver's education class at Woodland High School is taught by Harley Eddleman, a veteran teacher there for over 23 years. When asked if teaching this class was difficult he responded that if students had experience driving farm equipment it helped the students.

"In class they learn basically the rules of the road and a lot more of an idea what to look for on the driver's test. This is a class that kids want to take instead of sitting in a classroom. It helps them learn driving skills.

"We reinforce using seatbelts and learn, basically, the rules of the road. We go over a lot of the laws in class," commented Eddleman.

"Parents say 'I don't envy you with this class. My son does this, or does that,' but you should have a class of 24 doing this or that," Eddleman continued. "At the beginning of class I tell them this is one class where you not only could kill yourself, but everyone else with you."

They've never had a serious accident. "Oh, we've run off in a few ditches or a few yards, but nothing too serious.

"When Ford used to furnish the car for the class they would complain a bit about scratches on the hubcaps," Eddleman chuckled.

Driver's education helps students not only in learning the rules of the road but enables them to get cheaper rates on their insurance.

Clay Hurst of Farmer's Insurance Group in Marble Hill commented, "We now give a pretty good discount for the same program that we present to the school. It's a YES (Youth Education & Safety) discount." The program is for youthful drivers who participate in an educational program and who make a commitment to safety on the road.

Hurst presents the program to the Woodland class explaining the benefits of Y.E.S. Thos participating learn to take control of driving habits and have a better chance of beating the odds. They become safer drivers and better understand the cost of insurance. Their chances of getting tickets, being in accidents and causing injury and damage to themselves and others are reduced. They can influence their friends to have safer driving habits and improve their chances of getting lower insurance rates.

In a study conducted by Farmer's Insurance Group, more than 6,000 teenagers, 14 to 24 year-olds, will die this year in car accidents.

Kaye Brown of the Bollinger County License Bureau commented, "Insurance companies I deal with all give discounts for having taken driver's education. I feel that kids are better prepared after taking driver's ed. And the 15 1/2 year old driving permit allows them to ride with mom and dad only, to better enable them to learn the responsibility of driving."

Brown passed on a safety study, done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which stated that last year 1,269 people died in 1,066 crashes involving 16 year-old drivers. Thrill-seeking, speeding and drier error were the most common causes of accidents. Based on a ratio of deaths to miles driver, 16 year-olds proved more dangerous than drivers from any other age group, the study says.

In a report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety sent to Don James of Shelter Insurance, nationwide statistics show that chances of being killed or killing someone else in a traffic accident are greatest between the ages of 16 and 19.

More than 7,000 teenagers are killed each year in motor vehicles. Teenage drivers are responsible for about five times as many accidental deaths as drivers aged 35-64.

Driver's education teaches students what they need to know before taking to the road, and carries many other benefits attractive to the future drivers.