Revision: March 16, 2012, midnight
HB 1440 – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
15Mar2012… 0645h
2012 SESSION
04/05
HOUSE BILL 1440
AN ACT relative to driver education.
SPONSORS: Rep. L. Jones, Straf 1; Rep. Williams, Merr 11; Rep. Cloutier, Sull 4; Rep. C. McGuire, Merr 8; Rep. K. Jones, Straf 1; Rep. Newton, Straf 1; Rep. Sad, Ches 2; Rep. Warden, Hills 7; Rep. Hikel, Hills 7; Sen. Groen, Dist 6; Sen. Forsythe, Dist 4; Sen. Forrester, Dist 2
This bill permits a person who has attained the age of 15 and 1/2 years to fulfill the driver education requirement by enrolling in an approved online driver education course.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15Mar2012… 0645h
12-2247
04/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT relative to driver education.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Statement of Purpose. The general court finds that a number of teenagers postpone obtaining their driver’s license until the age of 18 because of the cost of driver education courses offered by driving schools. By providing the option of a more affordable online driver education course, with behind-the-wheel instruction provided by the parent or guardian, a larger number of teenagers may elect to be educated.
2 Conditions and Requirements for a License; Driver Education. Amend RSA 263:19, I to read as follows:
I. A driver’s license may be issued subject to the provisions of this chapter to a person under the age of 18 years who has attained his or her sixteenth birthday, if such person shall present a certificate of successful completion of a driver education course given by a public or nonpublic secondary school and approved by the department of education in cooperation with the department of safety, or given by a motor vehicle drivers’ school licensed under the provisions of this chapter, or available from an approved online driver education course provider pursuant to paragraph I-a and approved by the department of safety. An approved driver education course, whether conducted by a secondary school or by a school licensed under this chapter, shall consist of both classroom instruction and behind the wheel driver training of not less than 10 hours, in accordance with rules adopted pursuant to RSA 541-A, published [jointly] by the [commissioner of education and the] commissioner of safety, such standards to be not less than those presently required. An approved online driver education course provider shall comply with the provisions of paragraph I-a. The classroom instruction shall include 45 minutes of a nationally-recognized motorcycle safety education course approved by the director and 45 minutes of a nationally-recognized tractor-trailer safety education and awareness course approved by the director. The department of safety, by the nature of its function, shall be held ultimately responsible for setting and maintaining the quality standards for driver education in the state, aided and facilitated by the department of education. This authority shall apply uniformly over [both] secondary school courses [and], private motor vehicle drivers’ school courses, and approved online driver education courses.
3 New Paragraph; Driver Education; Online Driver Education Course. Amend RSA 263:19 by inserting after paragraph I the following new paragraph:
I-a.(a)(1) A person who has attained the age 15 and 1/2 years may fulfill the requirements of paragraph I by electing to enroll in an online driver education course which has been approved by the department of safety. The provider of such course may be located in the state of New Hampshire or in another jurisdiction. The course shall include security features, including student voice biometrics, to protect a student’s personal information and course records. The online driver education course shall issue a certificate of completion to all students who successfully complete the course. A person electing the online driver education course shall be exempt from the completion of observation time in a dual control vehicle under the supervision of a driver education course instructor. A person electing the online driver education course shall, in addition to any other supervised driving time required under paragraph II, certify and complete an additional 20 hours of supervised driving time under the supervision of a licensed parent, guardian, foster parent, stepparent, or grandparent who shall have no convictions in the past 10 years for reckless driving under RSA 265:79, driving or operating under the influence of drugs or liquor under RSA 265-A:2, or aggravated driving while intoxicated under RSA 265-A:3. The commissioner shall adopt rules relative to the method of certification. This additional supervised driving time shall replace the supervised driving time performed by the driver education course instructor as part of a driver education course.
(2) A person under 18 years of age who successfully completes the online driver education course but fails either the written test or road test portion of the licensing examination required under RSA 263:6 shall successfully complete a driver education course given by a public or nonpublic secondary school and approved by the department of education in cooperation with the department of safety or given by a motor vehicle drivers’ school licensed under the provisions of this chapter before being eligible to retake the licensing examination required under RSA 263:6.
(b)(1) No later than 30 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the director of the division of motor vehicles, with approval of the commissioner of safety, shall issue a request for proposals to license online driver education course providers to applicants for youth operator and adult operator licenses at no cost to the state.
(2) Online driver education course providers shall be required to customize their online programs to comply with New Hampshire laws and administrative rules; to promptly revise the curriculum to reflect changes to the laws and regulations in order to ensure that students always are exposed to current information; to include approved additions or deletions to the curriculum and tests regarding any areas the director has determined, based on accident, climatic, highway configuration, and traffic conditions data within the state which may require particular emphasis; and a provision that the state be held harmless to the satisfaction of the attorney general from liability regarding the content and delivery of the program. Online driver education course providers shall be required to include a system of study and test taking that is designed to ensure, to the satisfaction of the director, the identity of the person completing the course and the identity of the person taking the test; to provide random delivery of multiple versions of the test to ensure that the test taker cannot easily predict the questions that will be asked; a module to educate parents, guardians, or other licensed adults over the age of 30 regarding how to supervise student drivers in their required road driving experience; a system of recordkeeping and transmittal of individual student records and statistics to the division of motor vehicles to eliminate fraud and facilitate evaluation of the success of the program; and such other provisions as the director deems appropriate and necessary in an effort to ensure the program will compare favorably with the traditional classroom experience.
(c) In choosing a provider, the director shall evaluate the proposed cost of the program to the student, the extent to which the proposed curriculum reflects current best practices and any relevant national standards and unique state requirements, the ease of delivery, fraud prevention safeguards, the capabilities, experience, and financial stability of the license applicant, the extent to which the curriculum provides for streaming video including lecture segments and video illustrations of actual driving situations, the degree of interactivity, the means for individual students to ask clarifying questions of an instructor or obtain assistance with technical problems, the extent to which the program is delivered in a manner that is compatible with a wide range of electronic devices, the speed of loading and delivery of program segments, and such other criteria as the director deems appropriate and necessary.
(d) The director, with approval of the commissioner of safety, shall adopt rules pursuant to RSA 541-A relative to the licensing of online driver education course providers, the delivery of online driver education programs, standards, and requirements for data collection and auditing of the programs, the establishment of a license fee sufficient to cover any additional costs to the state in order to provide the program, and provisions for the suspension or revocation of a provider’s license for unsatisfactory performance.
(e) The department of safety shall collect data comparing the rate of passing the road and written test for licensing of applicants who successfully completed an online driver education course with applicants that successfully completed a traditional driver education course and those over the age of 18 years that did not complete driver education courses, and data comparing the accident records of these disparate groups and such other data as it deems of value in determining the successes or failure of online driver training. On or before November 1, 2015, the commissioner of safety shall submit a report with the governor and the chairmen of the house and senate transportation committees evaluating the online driver education course program including any relevant statistics and shall include a recommendation as to whether the program should be continued, amended, or canceled.
(f) In this section, “approved online driver education course provider” means an entity which is licensed by the commissioner of the department of safety to provide an online driver education course and provide reports as required by law.
4 Conditions and Requirements for a License; Driver Education; Version Effective July 1, 2016. RSA 263:19, I is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
I. A driver’s license may be issued subject to the provisions of this chapter to a person under the age of 18 years who has attained his or her sixteenth birthday, if such person shall present a certificate of successful completion of a driver education course given by a public or nonpublic secondary school and approved by the department of education in cooperation with the department of safety or given by a motor vehicle drivers’ school licensed under the provisions of this chapter. An approved driver education course, whether conducted by a secondary school or by a school licensed under this chapter, shall consist of both classroom instruction and behind the wheel driver training of not less than 10 hours, in accordance with rules adopted pursuant to RSA 541-A, published by the commissioner of safety, such standards to be not less than those presently required. The classroom instruction shall include 45 minutes of a nationally-recognized motorcycle safety education course approved by the director and 45 minutes of a nationally-recognized tractor-trailer safety education and awareness course approved by the director. The department of safety, by the nature of its function, shall be held ultimately responsible for setting and maintaining the quality standards for driver education in the state, aided and facilitated by the department of education. This authority shall apply uniformly over both secondary school courses and private motor vehicle drivers’ school courses.
5 Repeal. RSA 263:19, I-a, relative to online driver education course providers, is repealed.
6 Effective Date.
I. Sections 4 and 5 of this act shall take effect July 1, 2016.
II. The remainder of this act shall take effect upon its passage.