MORGANTOWN — Gov. Jim Justice and Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Everett Frazier joined Wednesday to announce a new program aimed at encouraging and training teenagers to get their driver’s licenses.
The Parent’s Supervised Driving Program (PSDP) is a national program developed by the nonprofit Safe Roads Alliance.
Justice opened with some chuckles, amused that teens need to be motivated to get their licenses. “In my world, we counted down the days to when our birthday was. … It was a great big, big time in your life.” He speculated that kids today must have too much to do.
Frazier explained the program. “Safety on our roadways is a number-one priority to me,” he said.
The PSDP, he said, is intended to reinforce the state’s graduated license law: the Level 1 instructional permits for age 15; the Level 2 license for age 16; and the Level 3 license for ages 17-20.
PSDP, he said, enables parents to teach and train young drivers in a core driving skills format. It includes a website, theparentssuperviseddrivingprogram.com, where parents can find their state program; a printed instructional booklet; and a free mobile app, RoadReady, where teens can log their driving hours and miles in a printable format to take to their skills test site.
PSDP’s website says the program is “designed to improve teen driver safety by providing parents and guardians with a methodical approach to teaching the requisite driving skills. Each lesson concentrates on a particular sequential skill. Parents are in the best position to help their teens become safe, smart, and skilled drivers.”
The guide, it says, “encourages parents and teens to drive together in a variety of weather conditions and in unfamiliar settings, be it rural roads, highways, in cities and in other heavy-traffic situations.”
The West Virginia program notes that parents or guardians are responsible for making certain that their teen has completed no less than 50 hours of supervised driving.
TWEET David Beard @dbeardtdp
EMAIL dbeard@dominionpost.com
