December 11, 2012 • 23 mins
In the United States, Driver's Education courses prepare new drivers, typically teenagers, for the licensing process. Scott and Ben discuss some common elements of Driver's Ed programs, as well as some new developments, in this episode.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Go behind the wheel, under the hood and beyond with
car Stuff from how Stuff works dot com. Hey Ben,
welcome to car Stuff. Hey Scott, thanks for dropping by
car stuff and hosting it with me again, No problem,
I always appreciate it. We talked earlier in UM an
(00:23):
episode that I hope has already come out. It has
and is sixteen two young. We briefly touched on driver's
education program. Yes we did, and we also during one
of our Nuts and Bolts episodes were asked, Uh, we
had a question that touched on driver's ED. So I
was thinking today we could talk just a little bit
about driver's education programs, um in, I guess the US,
(00:47):
and we've got some in other countries as well. Uh,
you've got stuff about other countries then, because I've got
some local stuff. Really okay, some of the nuts and
bolts of driver ed ocase from just the program itself.
No clever. Now let's let's go ahead, and first we
always want to get our definition out of the way.
(01:09):
A driver's education program in any country, state, municipality that
has one is basically a program designed to teach people
not to get an accidents and to be safe drivers.
That's right, it sounds relatively simple, right, relatively cut and
drive prerequisite for and for instance in UM in some
(01:34):
US states when you're required to take these classes, you're
required to take them as a student before your driving age,
and they actually won't give you a permit or a license. Now,
when when we talk about we're not gonna go too
far down into a bunch of details on everything, because
these programs in the way they're implemented can differ greatly.
(01:55):
Oh yeah, they're they're dramatically different from state to state.
And while not so much in what they require, but
um the way that they're laid out, like what they
what they allow you to do after the course, because
some sometimes you can take this course and then that
you know, the experience that you gain through your driver's
education course, it's documented with the state and they allow
(02:16):
you know, that's the right signatures to happen that let's
say this person can be excused or waived from the
driving portion of the test. UM. Now, they all have
to take the written portion of the test, but some
have Some have you do that, some don't have you
do that, others, you know, some some last three days,
others last three weeks. Some you know, it's just there's
this some cost, you know, a certain amount of money.
(02:38):
I like, let's say thirty dollars, others cost one and
eight dollars. Um. They're just all over the place as
far as what's allowed where and and you know what
what each state recognizes as being Um, you know officially
what they require for the permit. Did they make any sense?
Sounds like about all that? No? No, no, that did
(02:58):
You're going over several piece offications. Yeah, we've got all
this stuff, I mean laid out in front of us.
So gets a bit confusing, but we'll try to plod
through it with some of the I don't know the
the not averages, but more or less, like you know,
this is basically what you can expect when you're going
for a driver's head. Yeah, the general stuff you can expect.
We're gonna we're gonna cruise through that. And I think
(03:20):
an excellent place to start would be require driving time
you want to you want to start there? Yeah? Sure,
um do you do? You have to know the I
mean it's based in hours usually right, like a pilot's license.
That's a great way to think about that's a very
good way to think about. I haven't thought of that. Um, yeah,
it's it's usually thirty hours of driver training and oftentimes
(03:44):
they'll have you do night driving as well. Now, I
didn't have to do that when I was young. Yeah,
that's we're we're old fogies. Yeah now officially because I
did not have to do night driving from my drivers
and what do you say, old old fogies, old cogers,
I'm sorry your lawn speaking of the horn in my ear? No, no,
(04:05):
I um, I didn't have to do any night driving,
which I now now that I think about it, what
was up with that? Because it's a good idea, it
really is. It's a great idea. A lot of a
lot of courses. Will you know, in your thirty hours
of driving, something like five or six hours of that
has to be accomplished at night. And it makes perfect
sense because it's it's dramatically different to drive at night.
(04:27):
I mean it kind of, Um, I don't know. It
allows you to see what it's like to be on
the road. You know, when the headlights are coming against you,
you can't read the street signs maybe until you're a
little closer than you would be in the daylight hours. Um,
you know, pedest watching for pedestrians is even harder. It's
just a dramatically different environment. And I think it's a
good idea. And then you will also generally learn things
(04:49):
like the federal and or excuse me, the federal driving laws. Right. Um,
you'll learn when you can do things like take a
ride on read. You learn when you can do things
like okay, just again, Pet Peeve. I know, I know,
we got the demons out in our podcast on Pet Peeves,
(05:09):
but Scott, the people need to know. When the traffic
lights are out and one one street intersection is blinking
red and the other one's blinking yellow, you don't stop
at the yellow one. That's right. I'm sorry, Okay, I'm sorry.
I raised my boys. You feel better, I do. I
feel stop yelling at me. I will stop yelling at
unless I see you stop at that. You know. It's
interesting though, I mean, one one quick thing that we
(05:31):
should mention is that this Joshua was law. Yes, because
josh was Law is the one where this is where
the thirty hours came in driver's training before you get
and this is you classify for what they call Class
D license here in Georgia. And um, this was Josh
was law is in response to a youngster he was
about eighteen. Youngster listening to me. He's a young guy.
(05:53):
He was eighteen, I think and tragically involved in a
in a fatality. I think he hydroplane hit a tree
or something like that in two thousand three. Um, again
eighteen years old. And the you know, the idea was
that he didn't know what to do when his car
hyder plane there was truck hyder plane because he had
received education at that point. You know, the driver's education
(06:14):
was far less strict or less um Um, I don't know.
You you just had to do less in order to
get that permit or your driver's license. And um didn't
have the training that he needed to to understand what
happens to a car when hydroplanes or when you're losing control. Um.
And of course, unfortunately ed into his death. But as
his parents have set up this foundation which you know,
(06:37):
really strengthened some of the laws and restrictions for getting
a learners permit in the state of Georgia, and I
believe nationwide, I think Josh was laws nationwide, yes of
two thousand seven. Okay, So that and that and that
is where we get the thirty hours of driving and
you know then x number of hours at night and
you know, all these requirements before you get your your
(06:58):
actual license. Um. So, so once you go to driver's training,
which is what this course is. I mean thirty hours
plus plus you're talking about, and that's just driving experience
that's behind the wet. You also have, um, you know,
course study, you'll have lectures, you'll have probably you know
the videos and you have to watch you know, driving
videos and um, you know, just in parking lot type experiences,
(07:21):
then on the road experiences thirty hours and from that
point you can take your your signed certificate of completion
of this course and you can take it to the
d m V and then you have to you have
to apply for a permit and that's where it. See,
you're there's several steps to this. Now it's a little
bit harder than when you were younger. Um you apply
(07:42):
for permit and you have to take their written test
and they're driving test, and then once you pass both
of those, then you have your permit. You have to
have that for how long is it as it's like
a year the year year in it's a weird it's
a weird thing like that. I think it's a year
in a day, and then you can apply for a
driver's license. Would you again have to take a written test?
(08:05):
And I don't know if there's I would guess there's
a driving test at that point, I think so, yeah,
it would seem so. And you know, during during your
and during the time when you have the permit, there
are some restrictions as well. So when you have this
what they call Class D license here in Georgia, UM,
the first the first rule is that you can't drive
between twelve midnight and six am curfew. You have a
(08:28):
curfew UM. And during the first six months of this
of this permit, you're only allowed one immediate family member
UM they can ride in the vehicle with you or
I'm sorry, only immediate family members can ride in with you. UM.
During the second six months, only one unrelated passenger who
also is under twenty one years old can be in
(08:48):
the vehicle with you one time. So they're they're limiting
the number of friends you can pick up along the
way UM. And after the after the first and second
six months period, so you know you're getting close to
the the in here, UM, only three unrelated passengers under
twenty one years of age, you can ride the vehicle
with you, So you still can't drive a school bus
children now, exactly right, exactly right. But don't you don't
(09:10):
you think that's a pretty good way to go about it,
this graduated approach, I honestly do. I think that's that's
really good because you know what the whole thing about
unrelated passengers, right, that's that's a distracted driving situation. Yeah,
I can see that you've got a lot of friends
in the car with you. There's there's a lot of
distraction going on. So they want them to gradually learn
how to deal with that. And uh, I think this
is a well laid out program really. And then on
(09:31):
top of that, in a lot of in several states,
you'll be required to take uh separate course. Like in Georgia,
UH drivers are required to take the Alcohol and Drug
Awareness program. Um. And that's something that you just you
have to take if you're under eight. Team, I never
had to do that. Well you didn't you were in Georgia. Well,
(09:51):
I know, and I'm not. I'm not a youngster either, ye, so,
but but that's something brand new to me. I didn't
know that they had to take that until I read
this um E d P card is what they're issued, right, Yes,
And they give you a card and you have to
take it to UH route to the d m V,
which we call DDS here Department of Drivers Services. I think,
and that once you once you present that it's UH
(10:17):
it doesn't really do anything but function as a mandatory
education barrier, you know what. I mean, to make sure
that you know what's going on before you get your license.
And I'm gonna go ahead and say it. I think
that these things are moving in the right direction to
have to have people out on the road more, especially
(10:38):
driving at night. I mean, looking back, Scott, I can't
believe that we weren't asked to do that. I can't either,
because that that's the situation. The first time it happens
to you, You're you're on edge. Yeah, oh yeah, when
you're a kid driving, I mean, you know, you may
think you know it's it's just that much different that
you know, you you you're a little bit apprehensive about it.
No matter how tough you want to seem about you know,
(10:59):
driving that you can handle it, right, there's still a
little something unusual about it at first when you first
sat out on the road and it's it's dark. Man.
I remember getting out with my permit and just being
perplexed that I was driving the exact speed limit and
I dared not go a mile over and there were
there was a line of cars behind me, and people
(11:19):
in them were just so angry with me. And uh,
it's it's an eye opening experience. I'm glad it didn't
happen at night. Uh. I guess you know when someone
told me. I was talking to a younger friend of
mine and he told me when he was taking his
UH driver education course at his school, which was in Tennessee.
(11:42):
He said that it used to aggravate him because he
didn't like sitting in the class and listening to this
instructor because apparently the instructor was not the best public speaker,
which is you know fair. I know, if you're sitting
there for a marathon classroom session, I think a lot
of people are ends. You know. These are high school kids,
so they're usually not used to the three hour lecture
(12:05):
classes that would be more common in college. Get used
to it, guys, it just goes on to taste of it.
So he said that the way this the way he
was able to get through it is he said, let
me think of it like I'm studying for the s
A T. Let me think of it like there's this
study program and I'm just required to study and not
(12:28):
dying in a car accident is the test, and um,
that's the reward for all of this. I think, you
know what. I think it was a very intense way
to look at it. But it kept him awaken class.
That's a good way to do it. It It is. And
I have to ask, do you think that these are
gonna change these driving Well? I don't think so. There's
there's one way that they're already being kind of uh,
(12:50):
there's a modification of this already that I don't know
if I agree with or not. But maybe online driver's At,
online driver's Edge, online driver's At. That's a that's a
it's easy enough to look up drivers Dead dot com
and you can find it in your own states because
they've got a selection for all the states. Um, what
(13:10):
happens is you take the test and you know all that,
you know all the all the book learning. Yeah, you
take that, you take that online at your leisure kind
of you're not just the way you can dig the
college courses online now UM. And then when it comes
down to the actual driving test, they of course send
somebody over, a representative from the company. You schedule time,
you know, to get to get into the the vehicle,
(13:31):
and you actually do take a physical driving test, which
is good. But um, everything is done online and really
there's nothing wrong with that, I guess, and you're still
getting the same information as long as you're the one
who's honestly taking the test, and you know there's no
funny business going on, no Google answers. Yeah, exactly. But
you know, the thing is, you gotta prove it. You
gotta prove that you know what you're doing when you're
in the car. So it all comes down to, you know,
(13:54):
you're just how honest are you? Yeah? I mean they
know or if you know it or not, or if
you've studied or not. They know for sure, and I'm
sure that they're quizzing you a little bit as you're
driving to UM. And then they send you the certificate
via mail and that's good enough to take into your
you know, it's it's it's notarized, it's authorized, it's uh,
you know, um, it's it's a it's a legal document
(14:15):
to take into the d m V or the dds
like we have and um, that's a VALI certificate. Okay,
So I don't know that's that's one way to do it.
I gotta say, I see where you're going with this, bro.
I I think it's a good idea for a certain
segment of population, like kids who don't have a car,
(14:37):
or people who yeah, anyone who doesn't have transportation to
a place where they could take driver's head. Um, it
does make me a little bit nervous to picture all
those people who I'm sure have taken online driver's test
and cheated. Yes, because I'm sure there are a few.
I'm not I'm not naming names, um, just percentage wise,
(15:01):
it was bound to be somebody the statistically take the
test and uh. The question then, I guess would be
are the disadvantages outweighed by the advantages here? Or I see,
I don't know, I don't know. It's a tough one. Yeah,
it's a difficult. Yeah, I don't know. You can you
can never get a true answer to that. I would.
I would hope though that these um, these online courses
(15:25):
are as you said, they're supplemented by real world driving
but I would hope that they don't go too much
further into the online thing, because how long will it
be then until we have this immersive virtual reality driving
tests that well, you know, you gotta you gotta keep
one thing in mind. I thought the same way, you know,
when I when I first read about it, and then
the more I thought about it. You know, once you
(15:47):
go to the d m V, then you're faced with
their written test, and you're faced with their driving test,
and from that point forward, you've got you know, an
instructor right there with you the whole time, or you're
in the Secretary of State office or wherever you happen
to be. UM, so you know, you can skate through
on the online stuff in a way. UM, you know,
(16:09):
you still have to prove yourself in the car. But
then there's a point where you have to do it yourself.
And I don't think that, you know, you'd be doing
yourself any kind of justice if you were to fake
your way through the online course and then and then
you know, failed miserably failed the test the first time
you get to d m V, and then fail again,
and then you know, the third time, get it or whatever.
It would be No one to blame but yourself. But
(16:31):
exactly now, there's one other quick thing that I want
to mention before we wrap up here. But there's also
some things that these I can't tell you. Then I
just don't understand this. But there's drivers, there's drivers D
games that you can play online. These Yeah, well I
I did not. I didn't play them. Impossible, They're they're difficult.
(16:51):
I can't, I can't do it. I don't know if
it's I'm gonna say there's something wrong with my keyboard. Really,
maybe they're like they're like Scott told fun of me.
Maybe they're like the Piper Maru thing. Do you in
Star Trek? There is and and I'm not attracked by
any means. In Star Trek, there's this thing that I
believe it's called Piper. They just look good on me, dude.
(17:15):
They go with my I got the vulcan, I admit, okay,
thank you, well, thank you, that's a that's a feather
of my hat um. But what is the strange thing
about the Piper Maru idea is that it's this simulation
that is designed to be unwinnable, and so captain's or
would be captains at the at the academy have to
(17:36):
take this um scenario and they have to try to
beat an unbeatable system. Would a driver's at game be
like this? Is that what it was like? It's just
really hard. Here's the thing, Like, it's just like an
up down space bar, you know that type of thing
for for acceleration left right, you know that type of thing.
(17:57):
I just couldn't seem to get the coordination down to me.
To me, nothing like trying to get a car in
an apparel I mean, I can get a car in
apparelel parking space easy. It's just the trying to do
it online with my down left right keys. No way.
I couldn't do it. I'd smash into oncoming traffic. You know.
There's other situations where you can try to uh you
know they want you to to turn left left at a
(18:18):
four way intersection, um, you know, with with pedestrians and
other cars coming through. And it's just it was kind
of silly. I mean, it's it's fun to you know,
it's a little time waster thing. And I'm supposed, I
suppose if you practice, you know that you'd be able
to get good at this thing. But it probably it's
probably more to teach them to be aware like the concepts.
You know, if you're going left, watch for that kid
(18:41):
with her dog or something, nothing like the atari that
I played home. So I couldn't I couldn't imagine how
you know somebody can do this? Well, well, what could
what can match that attari you have at home? If
nothing like it's therefore I don't like I'm print that
out and put that on your desk. Um. All right,
(19:01):
So first I want to will apologize to everybody who
is a Star Trek fan. If I screwed up the
description I thought it was Piper Maru. If I am wrong,
I'm so sorry. Please don't please, don't think I was
trying to be offensive. Please pardon the ignorance there Um.
All right, So Scott, I feel like we've we've given
(19:21):
a pretty good overview of this. Uh do you want
to wrap up? No, We've got one more thing to cover. Okay.
Sure is it true that you call your minding Carlo
the the Enterprise? Well played? What the ears? It works? Yes? Um? No, no, no, Scott,
I have called it that in the past. I am
(19:41):
going through a bit of a Star Trek phase. Um.
I will try not to make it impact our professional
relationship too late. I would refer to it, I would
refer it if I would prefer it. I'm trying to say,
if you would, uh not refer to my car by
its full name, the Enterprise, because you might make it
feel like it's in trouble. I go with easy easy
(20:06):
e in sizzle, very couple. There's you know, you could
play nice, very nice onto listener mail on the listener battle.
Then we got a quick one here. It's kind of short.
And this is a guy. His name is Alton from Manchester, Connecticut.
Hilton Alton. Oh call himself out, high out, Now let's
(20:27):
go down. Um says, this is you, and he says,
still love your show. I don't know if that's good
or bad. Well, thank you maybe despite what he sorry
about whatever happened, he says, A note on your on
your project, car, Um, I have a lot of sixty
seven christ in Newport. You know that, right, Okay, he says,
a great choice. I've owned three of them in the
(20:47):
past to sixty seven, and I've been in love with
the sixty seven Newport two door ever since. And that's
what I've got. Um says he wish you could get
his hands on one, although he doesn't have that kind
of time and neither do I olt, but I'm trying it. Um.
He says that he wanted to make a note though,
that the original engine that came in the car, the
three three, which I have, the four forty. Um. He
(21:11):
mentioned that he thinks of the three three was a
much better engine than the four forty and by by
in definition the custom wasn't the muscle car version. Oh,
that's the strict muscle car version. Yeah, and he's he's right,
he is right. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if
I referred to it as a muscle car not, but
it feels like one to me. Might drive it, but um,
maybe not by the strictest, not by the strict definition. Now,
(21:33):
so he wants me to post some pictures, so we'll
see if I can get something up you know soon
about that. Um. But yeah, a good, good point. And uh,
you know you like the three three about in the
four forty. That's fine, and it's your opinion. I guess
I've heard the same thing, though. I've heard a lot
of people say that the original three three engine and
the Chrysis were it was just a fantastic engine, so
I can't argue without on this one. So it might
(21:55):
not be so much a case of good versus bad,
but great versus good. I don't know, I'm not really
because I mean, I've always heard there's no replacement for displacement,
and here's a bigger engine. It's you know, I've got
some performance parts to it. And of course the thing
sounds like you know, yeah, unbelievably sounds like a pack
of attacking tigers, unbelievably strong. Um, But you know, I've
I've heard good, good things about the three D three engine.
(22:17):
So if anybody else has any opinion about that, or
any anything to offer about the three D three versus
the four or for you, just let me know. And
if people do want to check out pictures, when those
pictures come up where ridin Goo? Probably you know what,
if I put them on the blog or if I
can you know, post them on Facebook, I'm not sure
it's gonna be somewhere. So the way to find it
(22:38):
is to check us out at all these different places
we make ourselves available online. That came out sounding weird,
but the point is Facebook, we're there's car stuff Twitter
where car stuff hs W. We've also got a blog
on our website, how stuff words dot com, and along
with that, we've got the answer to nearly everything automotive.
On the off chance, and you're not gonna believe me, Scott,
(23:00):
but I swear it has happened. At least twice, people
have not been able to find what they're looking for.
And that's why we ask you guys to write directly
to us at car stuff It how stuff works dot
com for more on this and thousands of other topics.
This is how stuff works dot com. Let us know
what you think. Send an email to podcast at how
(23:23):
stuff works dot com. M
Go behind the wheel, under the hood and beyond with
car Stuff from how Stuff works dot com. Hey Ben,
welcome to car Stuff. Hey Scott, thanks for dropping by
car stuff and hosting it with me again, No problem,
I always appreciate it. We talked earlier in UM an
(00:23):
episode that I hope has already come out. It has
and is sixteen two young. We briefly touched on driver's
education program. Yes we did, and we also during one
of our Nuts and Bolts episodes were asked, Uh, we
had a question that touched on driver's ED. So I
was thinking today we could talk just a little bit
about driver's education programs, um in, I guess the US,
(00:47):
and we've got some in other countries as well. Uh,
you've got stuff about other countries then, because I've got
some local stuff. Really okay, some of the nuts and
bolts of driver ed ocase from just the program itself.
No clever. Now let's let's go ahead, and first we
always want to get our definition out of the way.
(01:09):
A driver's education program in any country, state, municipality that
has one is basically a program designed to teach people
not to get an accidents and to be safe drivers.
That's right, it sounds relatively simple, right, relatively cut and
drive prerequisite for and for instance in UM in some
(01:34):
US states when you're required to take these classes, you're
required to take them as a student before your driving age,
and they actually won't give you a permit or a license. Now,
when when we talk about we're not gonna go too
far down into a bunch of details on everything, because
these programs in the way they're implemented can differ greatly.
(01:55):
Oh yeah, they're they're dramatically different from state to state.
And while not so much in what they require, but
um the way that they're laid out, like what they
what they allow you to do after the course, because
some sometimes you can take this course and then that
you know, the experience that you gain through your driver's
education course, it's documented with the state and they allow
(02:16):
you know, that's the right signatures to happen that let's
say this person can be excused or waived from the
driving portion of the test. UM. Now, they all have
to take the written portion of the test, but some
have Some have you do that, some don't have you
do that, others, you know, some some last three days,
others last three weeks. Some you know, it's just there's
this some cost, you know, a certain amount of money.
(02:38):
I like, let's say thirty dollars, others cost one and
eight dollars. Um. They're just all over the place as
far as what's allowed where and and you know what
what each state recognizes as being Um, you know officially
what they require for the permit. Did they make any sense?
Sounds like about all that? No? No, no, that did
(02:58):
You're going over several piece offications. Yeah, we've got all
this stuff, I mean laid out in front of us.
So gets a bit confusing, but we'll try to plod
through it with some of the I don't know the
the not averages, but more or less, like you know,
this is basically what you can expect when you're going
for a driver's head. Yeah, the general stuff you can expect.
We're gonna we're gonna cruise through that. And I think
(03:20):
an excellent place to start would be require driving time
you want to you want to start there? Yeah? Sure,
um do you do? You have to know the I
mean it's based in hours usually right, like a pilot's license.
That's a great way to think about that's a very
good way to think about. I haven't thought of that. Um, yeah,
it's it's usually thirty hours of driver training and oftentimes
(03:44):
they'll have you do night driving as well. Now, I
didn't have to do that when I was young. Yeah,
that's we're we're old fogies. Yeah now officially because I
did not have to do night driving from my drivers
and what do you say, old old fogies, old cogers,
I'm sorry your lawn speaking of the horn in my ear? No, no,
(04:05):
I um, I didn't have to do any night driving,
which I now now that I think about it, what
was up with that? Because it's a good idea, it
really is. It's a great idea. A lot of a
lot of courses. Will you know, in your thirty hours
of driving, something like five or six hours of that
has to be accomplished at night. And it makes perfect
sense because it's it's dramatically different to drive at night.
(04:27):
I mean it kind of, Um, I don't know. It
allows you to see what it's like to be on
the road. You know, when the headlights are coming against you,
you can't read the street signs maybe until you're a
little closer than you would be in the daylight hours. Um,
you know, pedest watching for pedestrians is even harder. It's
just a dramatically different environment. And I think it's a
good idea. And then you will also generally learn things
(04:49):
like the federal and or excuse me, the federal driving laws. Right. Um,
you'll learn when you can do things like take a
ride on read. You learn when you can do things
like okay, just again, Pet Peeve. I know, I know,
we got the demons out in our podcast on Pet Peeves,
(05:09):
but Scott, the people need to know. When the traffic
lights are out and one one street intersection is blinking
red and the other one's blinking yellow, you don't stop
at the yellow one. That's right. I'm sorry, Okay, I'm sorry.
I raised my boys. You feel better, I do. I
feel stop yelling at me. I will stop yelling at
unless I see you stop at that. You know. It's
interesting though, I mean, one one quick thing that we
(05:31):
should mention is that this Joshua was law. Yes, because
josh was Law is the one where this is where
the thirty hours came in driver's training before you get
and this is you classify for what they call Class
D license here in Georgia. And um, this was Josh
was law is in response to a youngster he was
about eighteen. Youngster listening to me. He's a young guy.
(05:53):
He was eighteen, I think and tragically involved in a
in a fatality. I think he hydroplane hit a tree
or something like that in two thousand three. Um, again
eighteen years old. And the you know, the idea was
that he didn't know what to do when his car
hyder plane there was truck hyder plane because he had
received education at that point. You know, the driver's education
(06:14):
was far less strict or less um Um, I don't know.
You you just had to do less in order to
get that permit or your driver's license. And um didn't
have the training that he needed to to understand what
happens to a car when hydroplanes or when you're losing control. Um.
And of course, unfortunately ed into his death. But as
his parents have set up this foundation which you know,
(06:37):
really strengthened some of the laws and restrictions for getting
a learners permit in the state of Georgia, and I
believe nationwide, I think Josh was laws nationwide, yes of
two thousand seven. Okay, So that and that and that
is where we get the thirty hours of driving and
you know then x number of hours at night and
you know, all these requirements before you get your your
(06:58):
actual license. Um. So, so once you go to driver's training,
which is what this course is. I mean thirty hours
plus plus you're talking about, and that's just driving experience
that's behind the wet. You also have, um, you know,
course study, you'll have lectures, you'll have probably you know
the videos and you have to watch you know, driving
videos and um, you know, just in parking lot type experiences,
(07:21):
then on the road experiences thirty hours and from that
point you can take your your signed certificate of completion
of this course and you can take it to the
d m V and then you have to you have
to apply for a permit and that's where it. See,
you're there's several steps to this. Now it's a little
bit harder than when you were younger. Um you apply
(07:42):
for permit and you have to take their written test
and they're driving test, and then once you pass both
of those, then you have your permit. You have to
have that for how long is it as it's like
a year the year year in it's a weird it's
a weird thing like that. I think it's a year
in a day, and then you can apply for a
driver's license. Would you again have to take a written test?
(08:05):
And I don't know if there's I would guess there's
a driving test at that point, I think so, yeah,
it would seem so. And you know, during during your
and during the time when you have the permit, there
are some restrictions as well. So when you have this
what they call Class D license here in Georgia, UM,
the first the first rule is that you can't drive
between twelve midnight and six am curfew. You have a
(08:28):
curfew UM. And during the first six months of this
of this permit, you're only allowed one immediate family member
UM they can ride in the vehicle with you or
I'm sorry, only immediate family members can ride in with you. UM.
During the second six months, only one unrelated passenger who
also is under twenty one years old can be in
(08:48):
the vehicle with you one time. So they're they're limiting
the number of friends you can pick up along the
way UM. And after the after the first and second
six months period, so you know you're getting close to
the the in here, UM, only three unrelated passengers under
twenty one years of age, you can ride the vehicle
with you, So you still can't drive a school bus
children now, exactly right, exactly right. But don't you don't
(09:10):
you think that's a pretty good way to go about it,
this graduated approach, I honestly do. I think that's that's
really good because you know what the whole thing about
unrelated passengers, right, that's that's a distracted driving situation. Yeah,
I can see that you've got a lot of friends
in the car with you. There's there's a lot of
distraction going on. So they want them to gradually learn
how to deal with that. And uh, I think this
is a well laid out program really. And then on
(09:31):
top of that, in a lot of in several states,
you'll be required to take uh separate course. Like in Georgia,
UH drivers are required to take the Alcohol and Drug
Awareness program. Um. And that's something that you just you
have to take if you're under eight. Team, I never
had to do that. Well you didn't you were in Georgia. Well,
(09:51):
I know, and I'm not. I'm not a youngster either, ye, so,
but but that's something brand new to me. I didn't
know that they had to take that until I read
this um E d P card is what they're issued, right, Yes,
And they give you a card and you have to
take it to UH route to the d m V,
which we call DDS here Department of Drivers Services. I think,
and that once you once you present that it's UH
(10:17):
it doesn't really do anything but function as a mandatory
education barrier, you know what. I mean, to make sure
that you know what's going on before you get your license.
And I'm gonna go ahead and say it. I think
that these things are moving in the right direction to
have to have people out on the road more, especially
(10:38):
driving at night. I mean, looking back, Scott, I can't
believe that we weren't asked to do that. I can't either,
because that that's the situation. The first time it happens
to you, You're you're on edge. Yeah, oh yeah, when
you're a kid driving, I mean, you know, you may
think you know it's it's just that much different that
you know, you you you're a little bit apprehensive about it.
No matter how tough you want to seem about you know,
(10:59):
driving that you can handle it, right, there's still a
little something unusual about it at first when you first
sat out on the road and it's it's dark. Man.
I remember getting out with my permit and just being
perplexed that I was driving the exact speed limit and
I dared not go a mile over and there were
there was a line of cars behind me, and people
(11:19):
in them were just so angry with me. And uh,
it's it's an eye opening experience. I'm glad it didn't
happen at night. Uh. I guess you know when someone
told me. I was talking to a younger friend of
mine and he told me when he was taking his
UH driver education course at his school, which was in Tennessee.
(11:42):
He said that it used to aggravate him because he
didn't like sitting in the class and listening to this
instructor because apparently the instructor was not the best public speaker,
which is you know fair. I know, if you're sitting
there for a marathon classroom session, I think a lot
of people are ends. You know. These are high school kids,
so they're usually not used to the three hour lecture
(12:05):
classes that would be more common in college. Get used
to it, guys, it just goes on to taste of it.
So he said that the way this the way he
was able to get through it is he said, let
me think of it like I'm studying for the s
A T. Let me think of it like there's this
study program and I'm just required to study and not
(12:28):
dying in a car accident is the test, and um,
that's the reward for all of this. I think, you
know what. I think it was a very intense way
to look at it. But it kept him awaken class.
That's a good way to do it. It It is. And
I have to ask, do you think that these are
gonna change these driving Well? I don't think so. There's
there's one way that they're already being kind of uh,
(12:50):
there's a modification of this already that I don't know
if I agree with or not. But maybe online driver's At,
online driver's Edge, online driver's At. That's a that's a
it's easy enough to look up drivers Dead dot com
and you can find it in your own states because
they've got a selection for all the states. Um, what
(13:10):
happens is you take the test and you know all that,
you know all the all the book learning. Yeah, you
take that, you take that online at your leisure kind
of you're not just the way you can dig the
college courses online now UM. And then when it comes
down to the actual driving test, they of course send
somebody over, a representative from the company. You schedule time,
you know, to get to get into the the vehicle,
(13:31):
and you actually do take a physical driving test, which
is good. But um, everything is done online and really
there's nothing wrong with that, I guess, and you're still
getting the same information as long as you're the one
who's honestly taking the test, and you know there's no
funny business going on, no Google answers. Yeah, exactly. But
you know, the thing is, you gotta prove it. You
gotta prove that you know what you're doing when you're
in the car. So it all comes down to, you know,
(13:54):
you're just how honest are you? Yeah? I mean they
know or if you know it or not, or if
you've studied or not. They know for sure, and I'm
sure that they're quizzing you a little bit as you're
driving to UM. And then they send you the certificate
via mail and that's good enough to take into your
you know, it's it's it's notarized, it's authorized, it's uh,
you know, um, it's it's a it's a legal document
(14:15):
to take into the d m V or the dds
like we have and um, that's a VALI certificate. Okay,
So I don't know that's that's one way to do it.
I gotta say, I see where you're going with this, bro.
I I think it's a good idea for a certain
segment of population, like kids who don't have a car,
(14:37):
or people who yeah, anyone who doesn't have transportation to
a place where they could take driver's head. Um, it
does make me a little bit nervous to picture all
those people who I'm sure have taken online driver's test
and cheated. Yes, because I'm sure there are a few.
I'm not I'm not naming names, um, just percentage wise,
(15:01):
it was bound to be somebody the statistically take the
test and uh. The question then, I guess would be
are the disadvantages outweighed by the advantages here? Or I see,
I don't know, I don't know. It's a tough one. Yeah,
it's a difficult. Yeah, I don't know. You can you
can never get a true answer to that. I would.
I would hope though that these um, these online courses
(15:25):
are as you said, they're supplemented by real world driving
but I would hope that they don't go too much
further into the online thing, because how long will it
be then until we have this immersive virtual reality driving
tests that well, you know, you gotta you gotta keep
one thing in mind. I thought the same way, you know,
when I when I first read about it, and then
the more I thought about it. You know, once you
(15:47):
go to the d m V, then you're faced with
their written test, and you're faced with their driving test,
and from that point forward, you've got you know, an
instructor right there with you the whole time, or you're
in the Secretary of State office or wherever you happen
to be. UM, so you know, you can skate through
on the online stuff in a way. UM, you know,
(16:09):
you still have to prove yourself in the car. But
then there's a point where you have to do it yourself.
And I don't think that, you know, you'd be doing
yourself any kind of justice if you were to fake
your way through the online course and then and then
you know, failed miserably failed the test the first time
you get to d m V, and then fail again,
and then you know, the third time, get it or whatever.
It would be No one to blame but yourself. But
(16:31):
exactly now, there's one other quick thing that I want
to mention before we wrap up here. But there's also
some things that these I can't tell you. Then I
just don't understand this. But there's drivers, there's drivers D
games that you can play online. These Yeah, well I
I did not. I didn't play them. Impossible, They're they're difficult.
(16:51):
I can't, I can't do it. I don't know if
it's I'm gonna say there's something wrong with my keyboard. Really,
maybe they're like they're like Scott told fun of me.
Maybe they're like the Piper Maru thing. Do you in
Star Trek? There is and and I'm not attracked by
any means. In Star Trek, there's this thing that I
believe it's called Piper. They just look good on me, dude.
(17:15):
They go with my I got the vulcan, I admit, okay,
thank you, well, thank you, that's a that's a feather
of my hat um. But what is the strange thing
about the Piper Maru idea is that it's this simulation
that is designed to be unwinnable, and so captain's or
would be captains at the at the academy have to
(17:36):
take this um scenario and they have to try to
beat an unbeatable system. Would a driver's at game be
like this? Is that what it was like? It's just
really hard. Here's the thing, Like, it's just like an
up down space bar, you know that type of thing
for for acceleration left right, you know that type of thing.
(17:57):
I just couldn't seem to get the coordination down to me.
To me, nothing like trying to get a car in
an apparel I mean, I can get a car in
apparelel parking space easy. It's just the trying to do
it online with my down left right keys. No way.
I couldn't do it. I'd smash into oncoming traffic. You know.
There's other situations where you can try to uh you
know they want you to to turn left left at a
(18:18):
four way intersection, um, you know, with with pedestrians and
other cars coming through. And it's just it was kind
of silly. I mean, it's it's fun to you know,
it's a little time waster thing. And I'm supposed, I
suppose if you practice, you know that you'd be able
to get good at this thing. But it probably it's
probably more to teach them to be aware like the concepts.
You know, if you're going left, watch for that kid
(18:41):
with her dog or something, nothing like the atari that
I played home. So I couldn't I couldn't imagine how
you know somebody can do this? Well, well, what could
what can match that attari you have at home? If
nothing like it's therefore I don't like I'm print that
out and put that on your desk. Um. All right,
(19:01):
So first I want to will apologize to everybody who
is a Star Trek fan. If I screwed up the
description I thought it was Piper Maru. If I am wrong,
I'm so sorry. Please don't please, don't think I was
trying to be offensive. Please pardon the ignorance there Um.
All right, So Scott, I feel like we've we've given
(19:21):
a pretty good overview of this. Uh do you want
to wrap up? No, We've got one more thing to cover. Okay.
Sure is it true that you call your minding Carlo
the the Enterprise? Well played? What the ears? It works? Yes? Um? No, no, no, Scott,
I have called it that in the past. I am
(19:41):
going through a bit of a Star Trek phase. Um.
I will try not to make it impact our professional
relationship too late. I would refer to it, I would
refer it if I would prefer it. I'm trying to say,
if you would, uh not refer to my car by
its full name, the Enterprise, because you might make it
feel like it's in trouble. I go with easy easy
(20:06):
e in sizzle, very couple. There's you know, you could
play nice, very nice onto listener mail on the listener battle.
Then we got a quick one here. It's kind of short.
And this is a guy. His name is Alton from Manchester, Connecticut.
Hilton Alton. Oh call himself out, high out, Now let's
(20:27):
go down. Um says, this is you, and he says,
still love your show. I don't know if that's good
or bad. Well, thank you maybe despite what he sorry
about whatever happened, he says, A note on your on
your project, car, Um, I have a lot of sixty
seven christ in Newport. You know that, right, Okay, he says,
a great choice. I've owned three of them in the
(20:47):
past to sixty seven, and I've been in love with
the sixty seven Newport two door ever since. And that's
what I've got. Um says he wish you could get
his hands on one, although he doesn't have that kind
of time and neither do I olt, but I'm trying it. Um.
He says that he wanted to make a note though,
that the original engine that came in the car, the
three three, which I have, the four forty. Um. He
(21:11):
mentioned that he thinks of the three three was a
much better engine than the four forty and by by
in definition the custom wasn't the muscle car version. Oh,
that's the strict muscle car version. Yeah, and he's he's right,
he is right. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if
I referred to it as a muscle car not, but
it feels like one to me. Might drive it, but um,
maybe not by the strictest, not by the strict definition. Now,
(21:33):
so he wants me to post some pictures, so we'll
see if I can get something up you know soon
about that. Um. But yeah, a good, good point. And uh,
you know you like the three three about in the
four forty. That's fine, and it's your opinion. I guess
I've heard the same thing, though. I've heard a lot
of people say that the original three three engine and
the Chrysis were it was just a fantastic engine, so
I can't argue without on this one. So it might
(21:55):
not be so much a case of good versus bad,
but great versus good. I don't know, I'm not really
because I mean, I've always heard there's no replacement for displacement,
and here's a bigger engine. It's you know, I've got
some performance parts to it. And of course the thing
sounds like you know, yeah, unbelievably sounds like a pack
of attacking tigers, unbelievably strong. Um, But you know, I've
I've heard good, good things about the three D three engine.
(22:17):
So if anybody else has any opinion about that, or
any anything to offer about the three D three versus
the four or for you, just let me know. And
if people do want to check out pictures, when those
pictures come up where ridin Goo? Probably you know what,
if I put them on the blog or if I
can you know, post them on Facebook, I'm not sure
it's gonna be somewhere. So the way to find it
(22:38):
is to check us out at all these different places
we make ourselves available online. That came out sounding weird,
but the point is Facebook, we're there's car stuff Twitter
where car stuff hs W. We've also got a blog
on our website, how stuff words dot com, and along
with that, we've got the answer to nearly everything automotive.
On the off chance, and you're not gonna believe me, Scott,
(23:00):
but I swear it has happened. At least twice, people
have not been able to find what they're looking for.
And that's why we ask you guys to write directly
to us at car stuff It how stuff works dot
com for more on this and thousands of other topics.
This is how stuff works dot com. Let us know
what you think. Send an email to podcast at how
(23:23):
stuff works dot com. M
CarStuff News
Hosts And Creators
Scott Benjamin
Ben Bowlin
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.