BELLEVUE — They tailgate, they speed, they merge without signaling.
You’ve got to wonder: Hey, dude! Where’d you learn to drive?
It’s an appropriate question.
Most drivers learned the rules of the road behind the wheel of an American-built behemoth in a high school driver’s education class.
For many, it was the only time they ever drove "properly."
"I tell my students, ‘When will you learn about the rules of the road other than right now?’ " said Jon Campbell, a Lake Washington High School traffic safety instructor since 1968.
But many public school traffic programs have dwindled and closed ever since the state gutted funding two years ago, and school districts have followed suit.
Of 296 school districts in the state, 244 once offered traffic safety education programs; that number has dropped to 180. Without state funds, once-robust programs have deteriorated as parents and students bear the cost of getting a traffic safety certificate. Commercial driving schools have boomed to fill the void left by public school programs.
"It’s a business, and money speaks," Campbell said. "We’re not in this for money. The high school programs have to be self-sufficient, so you’re getting down to the bare-bones kind of course.
"I still feel it’s a very high-quality program, but it’s not what it used to be. It’s absolutely phenomenal that schools don’t see them as a priority," Campbell said. "I fear for the life of traffic safety in public schools. It’s very sad for me to see there isn’t that kind of commitment."
There are two curriculum standards in play between the remaining public school driving programs and commercial programs.
The state Department of Licensing has limited power to regulate the curriculum of commercial driving schools, while the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction dictates what young drivers study in school programs.
"The programs that are by the (superintendent’s office) hold their standards to a little bit higher quality," said Jeff Smith, state Department of Licensing spokesman.
Smith says that doesn’t mean commercial schools are inferior, but the curriculum at commercial driving schools varies.
The agency regulates 176 commercial driving schools in the state with annual inspections, curriculum development, and background and fingerprint checks on instructors.
Commercial instructors claim to be superior to public schools.
"The quality seems to be a bit better in commercial schools," said Jim Jerauld, an instructor and co-owner of the Kirshner Driving School. "We concentrate on individual instruction."
The state requires a traffic-safety education certificate before it issues licenses to drivers under 18. Drivers 18 and older need only pass the state’s written and driving test, not take a traffic safety class.
The state issued 57,000 licenses to 16- and 17-year-olds last year. Schools issued about 36,000 traffic safety certificates in the 2001-02 school year, down from 48,000 in 1998-99.
And the rest: 169,000 drivers over 18 — some from other states — got their first Washington licenses in 2003 with no need for classes on proper driving or a traffic safety certificate.
State funding for traffic safety taught in public schools peaked in 1996 at $8.2 million. The state cut all funding in 2002, putting the burden of costs on school districts and students.
With less money and fewer resources, public traffic safety programs that once boasted 45 to 60 hours in the classroom are often reduced to the state minimum of 30 hours in the classroom and four hours behind the wheel on public streets.
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