Driving becomes part of school timetable

(CNS): Over 200 students from John Gray and Clifton Hunter High Schools have gone through the theoretical course of the Department of Vehicle and Driver’s Licensing Driver Education Programme since it started on 20 October last year officials have said. Students have also been able to try their hand at the practical side and recently 30 young drivers got behind the wheel and under the hood in the car park of the Family Life Centre, under the careful watch of instructors Billy Ebanks, Roy Bush and Burman Scott and the education minister who said that there is a need for young drivers to be better prepared for the roads.

Visiting the practical class, Rolston Anglin said he was pleased the programme is now part of the school curriculum and hoped to see it grow and target even younger children. He shared his own personal grief having lost an older brother to a car accident many years ago.

“You are not only responsible for you but for the other people on the road” he told the students.
“We have had a big demand from the public for drivers to be better prepared for driving. The skills that you learn here will stick with you for the rest of your life. Remember you share the road with many other drivers and you have to take that in account.”

Deputy Chief Officer Jonathon Jackson in the ministry spoke on behalf of Juliana O’Connor Connolly, who is the minster with responsibility for vehicle licensing but who did not attend.

“A driver’s license is one of the biggest status symbols among high school students. Getting a driver’s license is not a right, but a privilege, and as such, the Driver Education Programme will help our young drivers to understand that with privilege comes responsibility, such as paying attention to the road, focusing on driving and analyzing and adjusting to road conditions when the need arises,” he said on her behalf.

Officials stated that there are now plans to introduce the driver’s education programme, which is sponsored by Saxon MG, Avis Car Rental and Prestige Motors into the private schools as well as Cayman Brac in the near future.

Fifteen-year-old Amber McCoy explained some of the things that students learn on the programme. “It has helped me to gain a better understanding of cars and how they work and what we have to do when we have to drive. The focus has been on road safety and we have received instructions such as where to hold the steering wheel and what road signs mean,” she said.