In an effort to educate young drivers, the Georgia Driver's Education Commission has provided grants totaling more than $42,000 to two local technical colleges to finance driver education courses.
Lanier Technical College and North Georgia Technical College were awarded grants of $24,340 and $17,840, respectively. The grants will provide classes and 30 hours of classroom driving instruction, along with six hours of behind-the-wheel experience with trained instructors.
"We were able to provide 50 new Kia Optimas to technical colleges around the state (for instruction)," said Harris Blackwood, Director for the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.
The education program is scholarship-based for drivers between the ages of 15 and 18.
"We know that the best way to have a better prepared driver is to not only have the classroom time but to have time behind the wheel," said Blackwood.
The colleges also received driving simulators that can put drivers through all kinds of situations on the roadways, including what it's like to text and drive.
"Distraction's a huge problem, and young people think they're invincible and think they can multi-task when they're driving," said Blackwood.
"The idea is that you learn very quickly how you can lose control. A car driving at 55 mph travels the length of a football field in about five seconds. Nobody would drive down a football field with their eyes closed. When they take their eyes off the road, that's exactly what they do."
Both schools will have driver's education programs at multiple campuses.
Carol Jackson, Associate Vice President of Economic Development at North Georgia Tech said in a press release that classes "are almost completely filled" for the program through March, 2016.
