AN INITIAL EVALUATION OF TEACHING ASSISTANCE AS TEACHERS OF DRIVER EDUCATION

IN TEXAS, COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEDERAL SAFETY STANDARD FOR DRIVER EDUCATION WOULD REQUIRE MORE TEACHERS THAN WERE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE. A PROGRAM WAS BEGUN WHEREBY SPECIALLY SELECTED AND TRAINED PERSONS WERE DESIGNATED AS TEACHING ASSISTANTS AND EMPLOYED TO ASSIST THE CERTIFIED DRIVER EDUCATION TEACHERS. A PROJECT WAS UNDERTAKEN TO MAKE AN INITIAL EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF THIS CHANGE AND ESTABLISH A BASIS FOR CONTINUING EVALUATION. DATA ON THE STUDENTS COMPLETING THE DRIVER EDUCATION COURSE DURING THE 68-69 SCHOOL YEAR WERE COLLECTED FROM THE SCHOOLS. THE DRIVER RECORDS WERE THEN SEARCHED TO TRANSCRIBE DATA ON DRIVING TEST, CITATIONS AND ACCIDENTS. THESE DATA WERE COLLECTED FOR 2032 STUDENTS WHO HAD TEACHING ASSISTANTS AND 2864 STUDENTS WHO HAD CERTIFIED TEACHERS ONLY. THE FORMER SAMPLE HAD 177 CITATIONS AND 104 ACCIDENTS, AND THE LATTER SAMPLE HAD 262 CITATIONS AND 179 ACCIDENTS. THE DIFFERENCES ARE NOT STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. THE STUDENTS WHO HAD TEACHING ASSISTANTS SCORED LOWER ON THE DRIVING TEST. THE DIFFERENCE OF 1.5 POINTS BASED ON A SCALE OF 100 WAS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT; HOWEVER, THERE IS REASON TO DOUBT ANY CAUSAL INFERENCES DRAWN FROM THESE DATA. ADDITIONAL STUDY WILL BE NECESSARY TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLE CAUSES AND THEN GATHER DATA TO DETERMINE EFFECTS. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN POST LICENSING ACCIDENTS OR CITATIONS BETWEEN THE STUDENTS WHO HAD CERTIFIED TEACHERS AND THE STUDENTS WHO HAD TEACHING ASSISTANTS. THE MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS WERE TO EXPLOIT THE VALUABLE DATA ALREADY COLLECTED BY MEANS OF ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS AND TO INITIATE PROJECTS TO DETERMINE DRIVING EXPOSURE. /SRIS/

• Corporate Authors:

  Safety Management Institute

  7979 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 600
  Bethesda, MD  United States  20014
• Publication Date: 1969-12

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash rates; Driver training; Driving instructors; Driving tests; Traffic citations
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220896
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Nat Safety Council Safety Res Info Serv
• Report/Paper Numbers: 34 pp
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 26 1970 12:00AM