TDOS Cooperative Driver Testing Program Adds School Districts

 

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Department of Safety Cooperative Driver Testing Program (CDTP) recently added more schools and school districts to the driver education testing program that allows Tennessee high school students to complete their knowledge and skills test in high school instead of Tennessee Driver Service Centers.

 

“The Department of Safety continues to develop a positive working relationship with the Tennessee Department of Education with the goal of improving teen driver safety, overall highway safety and reducing congestion at our Driver Service Centers,” stated Deputy Commissioner Greta Dajani. “If the student passes the CDTP written and road test administered by the driver education instructor, teens and their parents spend less time at the Driver Service Center.”

 

The CDTP is the Department of Safety’s testing portion of a Tennessee Department of Education certified driver education course. The CDTP program provides students with extra classroom knowledge and driving skills combined with successful passage of a more demanding written and driving skills test prior to obtaining a Learner Permit or Graduated Driver License (GDL).  School systems must complete an “Intent to Participate” form and “CDTP Application” to be certified. The school systems driver education instructor is required to sign an “Instructor Compliance Affidavit” and provide the Department with a teaching certificate prior to becoming an approved instructor with renewals required annually.

 

“We are proud to partner with the Department of Safety to offer this unique service to our students,” Education Commissioner Timothy Webb said. “We want all Tennessee high school students to become safe drivers and we’re excited that our local school districts are participating to make that happen.”

 

CDTP instructors must ensure that every student completes 30 hours of classroom and six hours of behind the wheel training and passes the Knowledge and Driving Skills Tests to TDOS standards. In the Fall of 2009, the Department of Safety initiated a review of Tennessee school systems that did not participate in the Cooperative Driver Testing Program with the goal of adding school systems across the state.  More than 200 Tennessee schools and school systems, both public and private, received information and application packets encouraging participation in the program. Since October 2009, TDOS has increased public school participation by 43 percent in response to the outreach effort. The following school systems have now been added to the program:

 

Trenton Special School District                                 Knox County Schools

Tipton County Board of Education                             Hardeman County Board of Education

Milan High School                                                    Henderson County Board of Education

Warren County Schools                                            Trousdale County Schools

 

A complete list of the school systems currently participating in the CDTP and a Synopsis Report on Rankings and Rates of Tennessee Counties for Teen Driver Crashes & Fatalities 2002-2008 are attached to this news release.