Document Type

Research

Abstract

Driver education is a growing segment of the high school programs. In 1953-54 some 8,000 high schools in the United States offered to some 800,000 students a full semester's instruction m learning to drive a car. Educators and others are concerned with the effectiveness of such instruction. Periodic summaries ( 2) show trainees of such courses to have about 50 per cent fewer accidents, violations, arrests and warnings than non-trainees. Analysis of pertinent data (3,6,7) reveal no statistically significant differences in accident and violation involvements of trained and untrained drivers, when the most obvious variables are controlled, for women and for men with three or more violations. Tests before and after instruction (1,5) show favorable shifts in scores on standardized attitude scales on the average and for most of the students enrolled in the course. Ratings by 155 safety supervisors and teacher educators ( 4) indicate that driver education is one of the safety areas with some unfulfilled need for instructional materials. Currently there is under way a comprehensive evaluation program of driver education in the Iowa high schools at Iowa State College. The study includes consideration of the following phases: driving records of trainees, teaching effectiveness of instructors and adequacy of courses. The present report concerns the adequacy of courses, using as the criterion the considered judgments of drivers who successfully completed driver education courses and have held a driver's license.

Publication Date

1955

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

Issue

First Page

479

Last Page

484

Copyright

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Siebrecht, Elmer B. (1955) "Evaluation of Driver Education," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 62(1), 479-484.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol62/iss1/59

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Evaluation of Driver Education

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