Driver Training

As milestones go, putting teens behind the wheel is a biggie. That's why my recent column detailing the saga of getting Sturgis Kids 1.0 through 3.0 licensed to drive drew such a large response. That's why a bill awaiting Gov. Corbett's signature restricts the number of passengers for teens with junior driver's licenses, makes teens driving without seat belts a primary offense, and adds 15 hours to the current 50 hours of pretest driving training. With National Teen Driver Safety Week coming next week, I thought it was a good opportunity to share more resources available for teaching Your Kid 1.0 (or whichever version you may have in training)

Administrators who oversee Chester County's primary driver education program are scrambling to find enough instructors to accommodate a flood of new students. "We have a waiting list in several districts that is just not acceptable because we can't keep up with this incredible demand," said Levi Wingard, who runs the Chester County Intermediate Unit's driver education program. "We are really struggling to find qualified instructors, but you can't just pull these people in off the street.

Teenagers in Phoenixville will have to learn their driving skills on their own this year, as the school district is no longer offering driver-education programs. The students will have to dip into their own pockets to pay for an independent program that includes 30 hours of class instruction and six hours of behind-the-wheel training. "We will refer those students who want to take driver training to driver- training centers in the area," said James Calhoun, principal at Phoenixville Area High School.

Teenagers in Phoenixville will have to learn their driving skills on their own this year, as the school district is no longer offering driver-education programs. The students will have to dip into their own pockets to pay for an independent program that includes 30 hours of class instruction and six hours of behind-the-wheel training. "We will refer those students who want to take driver training to driver- training centers in the area," said James Calhoun, principal at Phoenixville Area High School.

Airport shuttle operators see red over what they consider onerous fees and regulations imposed by the Philadelphia Parking Authority that they say could put them out of business. "Save Philadelphia's eco-friendly airport shuttles" is the motto of a Web site campaign launched recently by Lady Liberty Transportation Co. and Dave's Best Limo, two Philadelphia shuttle firms suing the parking authority in a long-boiling dispute. The four-year-old federal lawsuit contends the agency's fees and rules for inspecting and certifying vehicles and training drivers violate federal interstate commerce law and add an extra layer of regulation and cost that hits shuttles harder because they charge less per passenger than taxis and limos.

Officer Tina Hudrick, whose car hit Officer Jose Ortiz Monday, has had four other on-duty car accidents in the last two years, police said yesterday. Three of the accidents were deemed "preventable" while one was "not preventable," said her supervisor, Capt. Anthony Boyle. In the non-preventable case, her car was rear-ended. The others all occurred while she was on emergency calls, he said. Hudrick was given additional driver training at the Police Academy after each of the first two accidents.

After one school bus lost its steering last week and another backed into a ditch the next day, Southampton School District parents complained at the school board's Monday night meeting about Meredith Bus Service, which provides the school buses for the district. The residents' concerns stemmed from two incidents. The first occurred Oct. 6, when a bus apparently lost its steering and bumped into a tree, and the second on Oct. 7, when a driver apparently backed into a ditch, said district schools principal Richard Gigliotti during the meeting.

Police Commissioner John Timoney still remembers the first day he got behind the wheel of a patrol car. It was his first day on the job in the South Bronx in New York City. "It was a very nerve-wracking experience," he said yesterday. "My knees were shaking. It shouldn't have been my first time. " The young Timoney, like thousands of his New York brethren, had never driven a patrol car before. His academy training didn't include it. Now, perhaps influenced by his personal experiences, Timoney has initiated more extensive driver training for police recruits, which includes driving a patrol car with a supervisor present.

News reports said 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff was "nonchalant" about piloting an airplane cross-country, and why not? Children don't worry about complications beyond their experience. That's what parents are for. The fact that Jessica's father and her flight instructor also were inadequately concerned about the danger is testimony to the power of attention from the news media to color one's thinking. The lure of breaking a record - no matter how stupid - apparently proved more powerful than common sense.

IN RESPONSE to recent letters, the goal of the Philadelphia Parking Authority Taxicab Technology Project is simply to increase safety and provide better customer service. While some in the industry have spread misinformation about the project, it will improve customer service, improve conditions for drivers and continue to increase the return on investment for medallion owners. Customers will now be able to pay by credit or debit card. It also improves driver safety by eliminating the need for substantial amounts of cash.

NEW TEENAGE drivers must get more experience behind the wheel and have fewer pals in the car, thanks to the beefed-up safety demands of "Lacey's Law," which took effect yesterday. Named after Lacey Gallagher, the Little Flower High School senior who died on her prom night in 2007 when the SUV in which she was riding crashed, the new law: * Limits an under-18 new driver with a junior license to one under-18 passenger who is not a family member, unless a parent or guardian is present.

As milestones go, putting teens behind the wheel is a biggie. That's why my recent column detailing the saga of getting Sturgis Kids 1.0 through 3.0 licensed to drive drew such a large response. That's why a bill awaiting Gov. Corbett's signature restricts the number of passengers for teens with junior driver's licenses, makes teens driving without seat belts a primary offense, and adds 15 hours to the current 50 hours of pretest driving training. With National Teen Driver Safety Week coming next week, I thought it was a good opportunity to share more resources available for teaching Your Kid 1.0 (or whichever version you may have in training)

No experience can quite compare to teaching your teenager how to drive. Apprehension. Fear. Exasperation. Now triple that. I've just been through three in less than two years. Yes, friends, Sturgis Kids 1.0 through 3.0 are all now licensed drivers, a project that began in December 2009 and wrapped up in August, and I have the gray hairs and worry lines - and insurance bills - to prove it. It wasn't easy for Mr. Driver's Seat to spend so much time as Mr. Passenger Seat.

The Toronto-bound double-decker Megabus that left Philadelphia the night of Sept. 10 would never reach its destination, slamming instead into a railroad bridge near Syracuse, N.Y., nearly three feet too low for the bus to clear. Four of the 28 passengers would die, and 20 others would be injured along with the driver, in a trip that went disturbingly wrong for reasons investigators still are trying to determine. What that "horrible . . . tragic" crash also did, said Dale Moser, president and chief operating officer of Megabus' parent company, CoachUSA, was put "a certain focus by the public on us. " Moser asserts - and federal transportation records seem to support - "that we are a safe company.

A Chester County mother extolled her blessings on Facebook early this month, concluding: "Life is what it should be. " Less than two weeks later, Linda Duguay Wood was posting obituary information for her 16-year-old son, one of two fatalities in an accident involving multiple passengers and an inexperienced driver. The crash has generated questions - but no answers - about whether more tragedies will jump-start House Bill 67, a teen-safety initiative stalled in the state Senate.

Airport shuttle operators see red over what they consider onerous fees and regulations imposed by the Philadelphia Parking Authority that they say could put them out of business. "Save Philadelphia's eco-friendly airport shuttles" is the motto of a Web site campaign launched recently by Lady Liberty Transportation Co. and Dave's Best Limo, two Philadelphia shuttle firms suing the parking authority in a long-boiling dispute. The four-year-old federal lawsuit contends the agency's fees and rules for inspecting and certifying vehicles and training drivers violate federal interstate commerce law and add an extra layer of regulation and cost that hits shuttles harder because they charge less per passenger than taxis and limos.

IN RESPONSE to recent letters, the goal of the Philadelphia Parking Authority Taxicab Technology Project is simply to increase safety and provide better customer service. While some in the industry have spread misinformation about the project, it will improve customer service, improve conditions for drivers and continue to increase the return on investment for medallion owners. Customers will now be able to pay by credit or debit card. It also improves driver safety by eliminating the need for substantial amounts of cash.

With the mercury headed for 90 degrees, your taxi pulls up on Broad Street. As you jump in, the cab offers no respite from the heat - since its air conditioner is blowing nothing but hot air. At least the driver is apologetic, and he gets you to your destination without turning the trip into a white-knuckle experience. Yet this cab - like dozens and dozens of others operating in Philadelphia - should be parked and repaired, if not scrapped. The fact that it was rolling along last week represents one more failing of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission oversight of the city's taxi fleet.

Officer Tina Hudrick, whose car hit Officer Jose Ortiz Monday, has had four other on-duty car accidents in the last two years, police said yesterday. Three of the accidents were deemed "preventable" while one was "not preventable," said her supervisor, Capt. Anthony Boyle. In the non-preventable case, her car was rear-ended. The others all occurred while she was on emergency calls, he said. Hudrick was given additional driver training at the Police Academy after each of the first two accidents.

With a $250,000 state grant, funding will continue for a program that trains area residents to drive school buses and other vehicles requiring a commercial driver's license. The program, "Road to Success," has operated at Gloucester County College for the last five years and also involves Gateway Regional High School in Woodbury Heights and the Glassboro School District. This is the second year that the program has received a state grant to operate the commercial driving program that trains displaced homemakers, Welfare-Work First recipients, subsidized housing candidates, single parents, the unemployed, and the underemployed.