2009 Louisiana Laws TITLE 32 Motor vehicles and traffic regulation :: RS 32:402.1 Driver education; required

§402.1.  Driver education; required

A.  No application for a license for the operation of a motor vehicle shall be received from any person seventeen years or older making application for the first time unless there is also submitted with the application, on a form approved by the secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections or the Department of Education, written evidence of the successful completion by the applicant of:

(1)  A "driver education course", which shall consist of not less than eight hours of actual driving experience and thirty hours of classroom instruction, including but not limited to training on railroad and highway grade crossing safety and on sharing the road with motorcycles and tractor/trailer trucks and at least thirty minutes of instruction relative to organ and tissue donation, approved by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections or the Department of Education.

(2)  A "prelicensing training course" if a behind-the-wheel course is not completed.  The prelicensing training course shall consist of a minimum of six hours of instruction in the National Safety Council's defensive driving course, Louisiana's traffic safety laws, and substance abuse education, or shall be an equivalent course approved and certified by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.  The course shall include training in railroad and highway grade crossing safety and on sharing the road with motorcycles and tractor/trailer trucks and at  least thirty minutes of instruction relative to organ and tissue donation.  The secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections shall adopt rules relating to the "prelicensing training course".  Oversight review of these rules shall be conducted by the House and Senate Committees on Transportation, Highways and Public Works.  The rules shall provide for:

(a)  Licensing of training agencies.

(b)  Course content and presentation.

(c)  Instructor qualifications and certification.

(d)  Classroom size and facilities.

(e)  Certificates of completion.

(f)  Required records and reporting.

(g)  Fees, which shall not exceed fifty dollars per student.

(h)  Penalties.

(3)(a)  No student shall be required to take the organ and tissue donation instruction required as part of any "driver education course" or "prelicensing training course" if he, or his parent or tutor if he is a minor, submits a written statement indicating that such instruction conflicts with his religious beliefs.

(b)  The portion of the "driver education course" or "prelicensing training course" approved by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections involving instruction on organ and tissue donation shall be developed in conjunction with the federally designated organ procurement organization for the state of Louisiana.

B.  The provisions of this Section shall not apply to any person applying for a renewal license under the provisions of this Chapter or to any person living twenty-five miles or more distant from a location providing a "prelicensing training course".

C.  Beginning one year after the appropriation of funds by the legislature to the State Department of Education for the implementation of a driver education and training program for all children of secondary school age in each parish of this state, and upon the certification by the state superintendent of education to the secretary of public safety that such program is operating in each parish of this state, no application for the operation of a motor vehicle shall be received from a minor sixteen years of age or older unless there is also submitted with the application, on a form approved by the secretary of public safety, written evidence of the successful completion by the applicant of a "driver education course" approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education or the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

D.  Except as provided in R.S. 17:270(A), no person under the age of fifteen shall be allowed to enroll or participate in any driver education course or driver training program.

Added by Acts 1968, No. 273, §7.  Acts 1992, No. 246, §1, eff. July 1, 1993; Acts 1992, No. 382, §1, eff. July 1, 1993; Acts 1992, No. 1009, §1, eff. July 1, 1993; Acts 1993, No. 225, §1, eff. July 1, 1993; Acts 1997, No. 725, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1998; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 80, §2; Acts 2003, No. 312, §2; Acts 2004, No. 216, §2; Acts 2004, No. 439, §1; Acts 2008, No. 768, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2009, No. 275, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2010.