Drivers Training
by Courtney Rockenbach
To sign up for drivers training you must be at least fourteen years eight months old by the time classes start. I didn't sign up until I was sixteen, but the class was full of 14 years eight month old kids.
- 1. Call your local high school and ask when their next segment one drivers training course is. I took my class at Gobles high school and my teacher was Mr. Houghton. I thought he taught class really well.
- 2. To sign up you will need to bring your birth certificate, and a transcript of your classes and the grades you're getting in them. You may or may not need to pay a fee. I didn't, but two years ago my brother had to pay a fee.
- 3. You will want to fill out your planner and bring it with you to your classes. You might want to get a friend to take class with you so they can be your driving partner.
- 4. There are 24 hours of class time and 6 hours of driving time. There is no driving range at Gobles so my first time driving was with other cars (YIKES!)
If you think you'll be nervous on your first drive (I was) you might want to go to a school that has a driving range. My first drive was on country roads (Which I like better than city); my 2nd drive was on the expressway (which I don't like at all), my 3rd was on Westnedge with a little downtown Kalamazoo, my 4th was downtown Kalamazoo with parallel parking, my 5th was just an easy country drive, my 6th was the Lawton driving test course.
As you can see the driving is all very fast paced so on your first day of class don't be surprised if the teacher puts you down for driving sometime during the week even before you've read any of the book (I was quite surprised by this).
Also, don't be surprised if other kids in the class have been driving on the road unlicensed and with out any formal training. My driving partner said she drove all the time.
- 5. Then you just take the class and do the homework.
- 6. It is a good idea to study before you take the written exam at the end. You have to score at least 80% out of the hundred questions to get your green level 1 certificate.
- 7. You legally can't drive with your green level 1 certificate, you have take it in to the Secretary of State with your parent or legal guardian and they will give you a Level 1 License. You will need to bring your legal birth certificate (the one with the raised seal) to prove that you are 14 years nine months old. Also they will want to see your parent's Drivers License.
- 8. You have to pass the eye exam. If you wear glasses you can be tested without them but if you don't pass without them, you'll have to put them on and test again. If you can't pass without your glasses they will put a restriction on your license that you must wear eyeglasses when driving. I passed without my glasses, but I only just got them and I only wear them for driving so I'm used to seeing without them.
- 9. After you have your level one License you have to log in 30 hours of driving, 2 of them at night. It also has to be 90 days since your level 1 license. Then you can take the segment 2 course.
- 10. You still have to finish off the total of 50 hours of driving with 10 night time hours on your level one license before you can take a driving skills test offered by third party tester approved by the Secretary of State (they have a list of testers available). You will be issued a level 2 license if you have had the level 1 for at least 6 months, are 16 years old and have passed the level 2 driving skills test AND your parents approve the level 2. At this point the parent can refuse automatic advancement from level 2 to level 3 at age 17.
And now you get to PAY for car insurance.
- 11. Parents have the ability to hold back their teen to whatever driving level they feel the teen is mature enough to handle. They can even have all driving privileges revoked just by going down to the Secretary of State office. (Scary isn't it)?
NOTE: Gravel is not like pavement! The kid I drove with on my first drive didn't slow down much for a gravel road, and then tried to make a sharp 90-degree turn and we almost ended up in someone's yard. Thank the Lord for the Driving instructor's brake!
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Segment I with Mr. Phillips took twenty-four hours of classroom time, two hours a day for twelve weekdays. Six hours of driving time for each student were also mandatory. The driving time was with the instructor and one other kid, so that made twelve hours in the car. For Segment I there was a textbook, a study guide, and worksheets on things like car maintenance. We also did a three page assignment on street signs, signals and markings. There was lots of homework, and Mr. Phillips gave two tests a day. Then we had to write a three page letter telling him what we learned in his class. Mr. Phillips gave us a lot of work beyond what was required.
There has to be six months between segments, and during that time I had to complete fifty hours of driving with my parents. Then I had to take Segment II.
Segment II was six hours over three days of classroom instruction and a final test. Our teacher, Gene Quinn, only gave one final test. Gene took us for a spin sometimes, and she was pretty nice.
Then there is a road skills test, that's the hard one. Hopefully, I will pass it. You drive around 45 minutes with an instructor and parents, driving safely and parallel parking. After that you get a restricted license which means you can't drive between the hours of 12:00am and 5:00am until you are seventeen.
(ed. note--He passed!)
More information and a parent's note
Click here for the requirements for getting a driver's license in Michigan for those under 18, from the Michigan Secretary of State.
A parent's note: Driving is hideously dangerous. You've heard it before, and you will hear it again, because although teenagers make up only 7% of licensed drivers they suffer 14% of fatalities and 20% of all reported accidents.
Teen drivers killed in motor vehicle accidents had another kid in the car 45% of the time; and worse, the more friends your age in the car, the greater your chance of a fatal accident. A recent study found that a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers was three times as likely to die in a fatal wreck than one driving alone. When you drive, you must drive with 100 percent concentration; be aware of how distracting your friends are. Don't give them a ride if you don't think you can manage to concentrate with them in the car.
In addition, if you are riding with a friend who seems distracted, or under the influence of something, don't die. Get out and call home for a ride. It's way cooler than being dead.
Click here for the previous Older Homeschooler's article or here for the May-June 2002 back issue index.
