By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph Safety and Health council is expanding its driver’s education to Platte County.
Executive Director Sheldon Lyon says the council began its new driver education program here in St. Joseph four years ago.
"And it's doubled in size," Lyon tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And we saw that some of the students that were enrolling were from Platte County and in order to give more students from our local area those spots, we decided to expand into Platte County with a limited drivers education program starting this spring."
Lyon says though, it's not just Platte County that is underserved when it comes to driver education.
"All of Missouri is underserved when we talk about drivers' education," Lyon says. "For those of us that are older, drivers ed was a part of our high school curriculum, and that's no longer the case, so parents want their teens to know how to correctly operate the motor vehicle, and also a key point of this is to be able to recognize danger."
Lyon says students in the program will not only spend time in the classroom, but will also learn driving in the car, with professional drivers.
"So, we'll give them the classroom portion followed by the driving hours, and we can talk about drivers and they can learn, but until they get behind the wheel and actually are out there driving, it is totally different," Lyon says. "So, this is a great program that gives them both the classroom and the behind the wheel instruction."
Parents can enroll their students now in the programs in St. Joseph or Platte County. Class sizes are limited to 25 in St. Joseph and 10 in Platte County.
You can find more information HERE.