RS 17:271 Driver training required for certain adults; same purpose and use of same facilities as in program for children
§271. Driver training required for certain adults; same purpose and use of same facilities as in program for children
A.(1) The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, shall establish and operate a driver education and training program in each parish of this state for adults. This program shall have the same ends and purposes as the driver education and training program established and operated by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education in R.S. 17:270.
(2) The program shall consist of a course of not less than six hours of actual driving experience and thirty hours of classroom instruction which shall include 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. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education shall develop the organ and tissue donation portion of the driver education and training program in conjunction with the federally designated organ procurement organization for the state of Louisiana. However, no student shall be required to take the organ and tissue donation instruction provided he submits a written statement indicating that such instruction conflicts with his religious beliefs.
(3) In order to provide and operate the driver education and training program for adults, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education shall use, insofar as is possible, the same facilities, instructors, driving simulators, equipment, visual and training aids and devices, and all related materials as are used in the driver education and training program in R.S. 17:270.
(4) The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall prescribe such rules and regulations as are necessary and proper to provide for the conduct and operation of a driver education and training program for adults.
B. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education shall establish and operate a driver improvement program for the purpose of the rehabilitation of drivers. The drivers who are to participate in this program shall be any driver who has been charged with the violation of any law of this state regulating traffic or of any municipal or parish ordinance regulating traffic, who, in the opinion of the court having jurisdiction over such violation, has indicated a disrespect for such traffic laws and regulations and a disregard for the safety of others, or who, in the opinion of the court, is an habitually reckless or negligent driver and who is ordered by such court to participate in the driver improvement program. This program shall have the same ends and purposes as the driver education and training program in R.S. 17:270 provided and operated by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education and shall include contents required by law for such program. In order to provide for and operate the driver improvement program, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education shall use the same facilities, instructors, driving simulators, equipment, visual and training aids and devices, and all related materials as are used in the driver education and training program in R.S. 17:270. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall prescribe such rules and regulations as are necessary and proper to provide for the conduct and operation of the driver improvement program. To this end the state Department of Education and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall cooperate with the courts of this state having jurisdiction over the violation of state laws and parish and municipal ordinances regulating traffic.
C. This Section shall take effect and become operative upon the implementation by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education of the driver education and training program in each parish of this state for all children who are fifteen years of age or older.
Added by Acts 1968, No. 282, §§1 to 4; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 80, §1; Acts 2003, No. 312, §1; Acts 2004, No. 216, §1; Acts 2008, No. 768, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009.