Parents’ Attitudes About Connecticut's Required Driver Orientation Course for Parents

Abstract

Objective: Connecticut is the first state to require a parent of 16- and 17-year-olds to complete a 2-h training course prior to licensure. The objective of the study was to determine parents’ evaluations of the course, what they learned, and how they said they used this information.

Methods: A telephone survey was conducted of 300 parents of initial license holders who had taken the course in its first year.

Results: Most parents approved of the course requirement, liked the way the course was delivered, and learned new information that they said they used to guide their teen through the licensing process. Eighty-five percent rated the course as excellent (41%) or good (44%). Parents reported that most relevant topics were covered, with the exception of vehicle choice. The majority of parents knew essential details of Connecticut's nighttime and passenger restrictions, although 35 percent lacked knowledge of the passenger restriction.

Conclusions: The course was well received and serves its purpose of providing parents with important knowledge they found useful. Results suggest that the course has beneficial effects, although the extent to which teen driving behavior and crash involvement is affected by the parent training is not known.

Keywords:

• Driver licensing
• Parents of teenagers
• Parent education
• Motor vehicle crashes

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank CT DOT and CT DMV for their support of this project.