Learning to Drive
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 12:45 p.m., June 27, 2008
Updated 12:45 p.m., June 27, 2008
Students in the Emporia area are learning there’s more to driving a car than slipping in behind the steering wheel and depressing the gas pedal.
About 40 youngsters enrolled in the Emporia school district’s drivers’ education classes scheduled in June and July, and others are taking classes in area school districts and at Emporia State University, where student teachers practice teaching with teens enrolled in their classes.
The school district charges $400 for its classes to cover the approximate cost of the course. The university charges $125, primarily because student teachers already have paid for their course credits.
At Emporia High School, the young drivers attend classes for an hour and a half each day for 19 days. Of that time, about six hours actually are spent behind the wheel. The remainder of the time is in class, where they watch films, hear presentations from experts in an assortment of professions, and learn about the rules and responsibilities of being a driver.
“We have a lot of presenters that come out,” said Mark Rathbone, classroom drivers’ ed teacher.
The speakers have come in from the Kansas Safety Belt Education Office, Kansas Drunk Driving Prevention office in Topeka, the BNSF Railway, the Kansas Motor Carriers Association to talk about sharing the road with semi-tractor trailers, and the Kansas Highway Patrol, which brought in its “Convincer” apparatus to stress the importance of wearing seat belts. Other speakers talked to the youths about motorcycle safety and the intricacies of vehicle insurance, Rathbone said.
The classes covered basic skills, such as the rudimentary task of driving and controlling the vehicle, to driving in urban traffic.
“The most important one, in my opinion, is the last unit, being a responsible driver,” Rathbone said.
Being responsible, in addition to following the laws, means not letting emotions affect driving skills or attitudes and not mixing intoxicants and driving a vehicle, he said.
The students also are learning how to change a tire, check and maintain the vehicle’s fluid levels, and other practical chores related to driving a vehicle.
“We try to encourage them to go out with Mom or Dad or a guardian and check fluid levels, stuff like that,” Rathbone said.
And, though the students may not need much encouragement, they also are told to go out with those adults to practice their driving skills and fulfill requirements to upgrade from a learner’s permit to a restricted driver’s license.
The students go out in pairs with EHS driving instructors to practice driving in the 2007 Chevrolet Impala or 2005 Chevrolet Malibu the district uses for the classes.
Rathbone said that the classes also emphasize the importance of focusing on driving and not being distracted. Talking or texting on cell phones is not an acceptable “multitasking” activity, he said.
Rathbone stresses the importance of safe driving, whether on motorcycles or in vehicles, and wearing seat belts always. Vehicles and teenagers too often can combine into a tragic accident. A priority for Rathbone, then, is “getting across to them that’s their No. 1 killer.”
State auditors later will verify that the driving course has fulfilled all of the requirements needed for class credit and the license.
“An auditor comes out in January or February and combs through the records,” Rathbone said. “They keep a file on every student. You have to have a program approved by the state.”
Teachers in charge of the hands-on driving segment are: Gena Wysocki, Tresa Pierce, Diana Delgado, Jesse Nelson, Terry Taylor and Bill Hinrichs.
Students practice in the parking lot until instructors deem them skilled and comfortable enough to venture onto city streets and highways.
“The good thing is we have a brake on our side,” Rathbone said of the front passenger seat occupied by the instructors. “Plus, it helps to have a very fast hand if you have to grab the steering wheel.”