A Colorado Senate committee advanced a bill Monday to require teenagers to complete up to 36 hours of driver’s education to be eligible for a driver’s license.

If passed by the full state legislature, Senate Bill 11 would mandate that Coloradans under the age of 18 take a 30-hour driver’s education course and receive at least six hours of behind-the-wheel driving training from an instructor before being issued a driver’s license. The bill would also require those over 18 but under 21 years old to complete a four-hour driver awareness program to get a driver’s license.

New bill would make Colorado teens take driver’s education before getting a license

Critics noted the bill would raise the costs for first-time drivers, but its sponsor, Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, said it is intended to increase road safety by better preparing young drivers.

“Our roadways are becoming more and more dangerous every single year,” Winter said during Monday’s committee meeting. “These fatalities often can be linked to unsafe driving, distracted driving, impaired driving. … Working to make sure that we’re preparing our youth for the tremendous responsibility that is to drive is incredibly important and I think this is a step forward to do that.”

The bill’s advancement comes on the same day that the Colorado Department of Transportation announced 2022 had the most roadway deaths in the state since 1981.

In 2022, 745 people died in crashes on Colorado roads — up from 691 in 2021, 622 in 2020 and an average of 638 annually since 2017, according to a report from the Department of Transportation. Fatalities among drivers aged 15 to 20 went up from 24 in 2019 to 35 in 2022, the report found. Colorado’s traffic fatalities have been on the rise for more than a decade after hitting a record low of 447 annual deaths in 2011.

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The Senate Transportation and Energy Committee voted, 4-2, in support of the bill on Monday, passing it forward to the Senate Finance Committee for further consideration. Committee members were split along party lines, with Democrats in support of the bill and Republicans in opposition. 

“I’m very supportive of trying to better educate drivers, but how have you thought about the financial impact this has on families?” said Sen. Cleave Simpson, R-Alamosa, who voted against the bill. “And, from my perspective, in parts of rural Colorado, online just isn’t an option at all. In rural communities that I represent, there’s still an abundance of them that don’t have access to high-speed internet.”

The bill would add to the recently rising costs of getting a driver’s license in Colorado. In April 2020, Colorado’s Department of Motor Vehicles stopped providing free driver’s tests, forcing prospective drivers to take the license test at third-party driving schools, which costs up to $115, depending on the company.

The bill would create a refundable income tax credit for purchasing driver’s education and training, offering up to $1,000 per student. However, drivers would still need to have hundreds of dollars to pay for the courses upfront.

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DriveSafe, the largest driving school in the state, currently charges $109 for its online 30-hour driver’s education course and $549 for its six-hour behind-the-wheel training — plus an additional $100 to take the driver’s license test with the company under a bundle package, according to DriveSafe’s website.

Prices could also increase if driver’s education courses become mandated, as they did when the DMV stopped providing driver’s tests in 2020.

Winter said lawmakers are “working hard to make it more affordable” by offering scholarships and identifying online driver’s education courses that start as low as $40 — not including the mandated six hours of behind-the-wheel training.

“Driver’s education does cost a little money upfront but if a $40 course saves you from a $4,700 repair bill, I think we would all agree that’s a pretty good bargain. More so if it saves your life,” said Skyler McKinley, spokesman for AAA Colorado who testified in support of the bill.

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McKinley cited a study out of Washington, which, he said, found that 18 to 20 year olds who have not passed a safety education course were nearly twice as likely to be involved in an injury or fatal crash.

Data on the effectiveness of driver’s education appears to be widely inconsistent.

A 2014 study by the AAA Foundation found that taking driver’s education reduces crashes by only 4.3%. But a 2021 review of driver’s education studies from the Journal of Injury and Violence Research found no evidence that driver’s education is effective in reducing crashes or injuries — though it did find it to improve self-perceived driving abilities, behind-the-wheel performance and, to a small extent, decrease traffic offenses.

Supporters of the bill were unable when questioned to identify how many of Colorado’s record fatal crashes in 2022 involved young drivers — the only drivers who would be affected by the bill.

The bill would also allow minors who live in rural areas to receive 12 hours of behind-the-wheel training from a parent or guardian instead of six hours from a certified training instructor. This provision earned the bill a “no” vote from Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Serling, who said doubling the hours for rural drivers is unfair.

“There’s challenges to us providing all services that we deem important,” Winter said in defense of the bill. “Is it perfect? No. … I still think it’s really important and worth those struggles.”

Currently, Coloradans under the age of 18 are eligible to test for a driver’s license after holding a learner’s permit for 12 months and completing 50 hours of supervised driving, including 10 hours of night driving. State law only requires those between 15 and 16 years old to complete driver’s education courses in order to get a learner’s permit.

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