Enrolling your teen in a driver’s education course is one of the best ways to ensure they learn safety and the rules of the road. Driving lessons are one of the most cost-effective ways to learn to drive and pay dividends long after the teen gets their first driver’s license. As a parent, you might wonder if it’s really worth it. After all you, a family friend, or another adult relative could teach your teen how to drive for free, right?

Not so fast. Consider three reasons why investing in professional driver instruction can pay for itself over time.

Teen Drivers Are at Risk

According to statistics on teen driving compiled by the CDC, in 2019, almost 2,400 teens in the United States aged 13–19 were killed and about 258,000 received hospital ER treatment for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes. That’s an average of about seven teens per day. Motor vehicle crash deaths among teens 15–19 years of age caused an estimated $5 billion in economic losses for crashes in 2018 alone.

With that group, the following are most likely to be involved in an automobile accident:

Teens who are at an elevated risk for motor vehicle crashes include:

Males between 16-19

Teens driving with teen or young adult passengers

Newly licensed teens

The CDC found these factors played significant roles when teen drivers get into accidents:

Inexperience:
Nighttime and Weekend Driving
Not Using Seat Belts
Distracted Driving (i.e., cellphone use)
Speeding
Alcohol Use:

Benefits of Professional Driver Education

Enrolling your teen in a driver education course has many benefits beyond them getting their license. Some of the other benefits include:

Preparing for road test
Gaining driving experience
Learning how to drive safely
Building confidence
Saving on insurance premiums through select providers

New York State Graduated Licensing Laws

In the state of New York (see information provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)), the minimum entry age for obtaining a learner’s permit is 16, with a mandatory holding period of 6 months. But first, the driver must complete the required 5-hour course from an approved driver training school. During this time, the permit holder must accumulate 50 hours of supervised driving with 15 of those hours consisting of night-time driving before he can take the road test.

After the permit holder completes this stage and passes his road test, he enters the intermediate provisional driver stage. In upstate New York, this means limited unsupervised driving between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. with no more than one passenger in the car under the age of 21.

Upon reaching the age of 18 or completion of an approved driving education course, whichever comes first, the driver can have all restrictions removed from his license.