Posted: | February 24, 2021 04:16 PM |
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From: | Representative Christopher B. Quinn |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Private Driver Education |
In the near future, I plan on reintroducing legislation that would modernize how the Commonwealth grants licenses and regulates private driver education schools. Currently, private driver education schools are subject to the outdated provisions outlined in the Private Driver Education or Training School Act from 1952. As a result of the outdated laws, many private driver education schools across the state are struggling to hire or retain qualified and knowledgeable driver instructors to teach our future drivers how to lawfully drive on our roads. The process for an applicant to become a licensed private driver instructor within the Commonwealth through the Department of Education can take months because the law was written in 1952 and has not once been updated to reflect the inevitable changes in society and technology. In addition, a private driver education instructor applicant must travel to only one approved location within Harrisburg to take a 100-question multiple choice test that takes less than 90 minutes. While on the other hand, their potential students can complete a driver’s education course online. As a result of these obsolete laws, there are currently certified PennDOT third-party license instructors who can pass or fail a future driver at the time of a driving test, yet those same individuals are unable to teach how to lawfully drive on the road leading up to that test. My legislation would remedy these outdated provisions by repealing the Private Driver Education or Training School Act from 1952 and create a new curriculum developed by PennDOT to license private driver educational schools within the Vehicle Code. I hope you join me in sponsoring my upcoming legislation. |
Introduced as HB1244