When it comes time to begin working toward your driver’s license, one of the first steps is to sign up for driver’s education. There is so much valuable information that teenagers need to know before they are ready to tackle the road. While parents are a valuable asset in teaching teenagers road responsibility, we all know that teens typically listen to other adults more readily than they do their own parents.

Driver’s education is essential to reducing the likelihood that your teen will be an accident. In fact, research shows that more drivers involved in traffic accidents happen because a distracted driver was on their phone or not paying attention. Research also shows that taking a driver’s education course can significantly impact the desire to drive distracted.

What is Driver’s Education?

Driver’s education is a course that aims to teach teenagers the safety rules of the road. Driver’s education is a great resource for facts and statistics, rules of the road, and practical resources for learning about how to drive safely. Perhaps the most important part of driver’s education, however are the practices about how to drive in various hazardous conditions, things you otherwise would not learn.

Some people think that driver’s education includes time behind the wheel as part of the course. However, this is not always the case. Some driver’s education courses include both practical lessons and the experience behind the wheel. Other courses will not include the actual driving practice.

In California, you are required to complete both types of driver’s ed. This means that you will likely want to sign up for a combined class that allows you to take the written portion and the driving portion at one time.

How Many Hours Does Driver’s Ed Take?

In California, you have to complete 36 total hours of driver’s education. There are two types of California driver’s ed courses.

The first 30 hours are a class like you would expect to see in school. You learn about the rules of the road and you get a lot of information about defensive driving. You will also go much more deeply into the laws of California driving and what is expected of driver’s on the road.

Before you take the California Driver’s license test, you must also have completed the other six hours of driver’s education. These six hours are behind-the-wheel training that is offered by a certified teacher in order to fully prepare students for the responsibility of driving.

Once students complete the behind-the-wheel training, they usually feel more prepared than ever before to conquer the driving test at the DMV. After all, the six hours of driving with a certified driving instructor is more time than it sounds like on paper. Students have the opportunity to drive in all types of different situations and practice many of the maneuvers that will be included in the driving test when they head toward the DMV.

Considering all of the valuable information that students glean from these driver’s ed courses, it is a good thing that there are 36 required hours by the state of California. We want our young drivers to be extremely prepared for all of the possible conditions that they might face when they are on their own on the road. Driver’s education is the least stressful and most efficient way to prepare them for these situations.

Of course, experience driving with parents is also required. Actually, 50 hours of practice driving is required with parents or guardians. These kids should be extremely well prepared for their driving tests when the big day comes.

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