Former school instructor still teaching teens to drive
Posted on Sunday, July 30, 2006
He hasn't taught driver education as a Fayetteville School District employee since 2000, but Dick Harris continues to teach local teenagers and others how to drive.
The administration discontinued the program as a class offering following the 1999-2000 school year, so the recently retired school employee continued to teach it as a side business.
Summer is one of the peak times for the class, as he contracts with Fayetteville's Adult and Community Education program to offer the class in summer sessions. He also offers lessons at other times through his business, Harris Driving School.
Taking the class costs $ 240. Harris said his primary overhead is gas for the car and insurance.
Harris also has an interesting requirement to take the class considering he teaches the students how to drive. Participants must have a state-issued learning permit or driver's license.
He cannot allow anyone without a license or permit to drive due to insurance regulations.
Unlike some states, Arkansas doesn't have any regulations requiring teenagers to take driver education.
"I wish everybody had to take it. That'd help my business," he said.
With no regulations requiring the course, school districts do not have to offer it. This has contributed to some school districts phasing out the program, charging special fees or only offering it during the summer months.
"It's a dying breed in (Arkansas ) high schools," Harris said.
Students can get a learner's permit at age 14 and a driver's license at 16, according to the Arkansas Department of Revenue Web site. The student must show they have at least a 2. 0 grade point average.
Anyone under 18, though, has to have an adult in the passenger seat for the first six months of driving.
So, why would someone want to take driver's education if they already have a permit or license ?
"Just because they have a permit, that doesn't mean they've driven," Harris said, noting that to obtain a permit they simply have to pass a written test.
Some parents are nervous about giving the lessons to their own children, he added.
Harris' vehicle includes a passenger-side brake for the instructor. The brake is a common piece of equipment on driver education cars but seldom seen otherwise.
"Traditionally, a kid's going to get in the car and drive faster than he should," Harris said.
Also, he said, some insurance companies offer discounts for taking and successfully completing driver education. A 10 percent discount on an insurance premium for a teenager is a good savings.
"About 40 percent learn to drive with me," he said. "The others take it for insurance (discounts )."
Since he has been teaching driver education in Fayetteville for so many years, some of his students are children of former students.
Harris was a head football coach at Woodland Junior High for 25 years and he is also a former assistant football coach at Fayetteville High School.
"My patience level is pretty high," he said.
There was only one student he ever had who was too tough to teach to drive. He ended up giving her a refund on the tuition, he said.
Harris recently wrapped up a session of summer driver education classes.
The class includes a week of instructional time in a classroom, with three 90-minute classes and two one-hour classes. Gone are the old-fashioned "simulators"once used in such classes.
The next two weeks after that are focused on on-the-road driving.
Classes are limited to four students, so on driving days they go out for about an hour, taking about 15 minutes each.
"I get them out on the road," he said. "I try to get them in as many driving situations as I can."
The students drive on a variety of roads, from residential streets to main highways. He takes them on Arkansas 16 to Elkins and Arkansas 112 to Tontitown.
The road he considers off-limits is Interstate 540, he said.
The most satisfying part of teaching driver education is watching a beginner become a good driver by the end of the course, he said.
Fayetteville is a challenging city to drive in because of its many hills and difficult intersections, he said. Also, traffic has increased with the population.
"Anymore, it's difficult because there is so much traffic in Fayetteville," he said.
Harris said he doesn't take students out in snow and ice, but he will give driving lessons if it is raining.
"They need to learn to drive in the rain," he said.
Many of the students are teens, but Harris said he also receives some interest from adults.
He is working with one woman now, for example, who relocated here from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She hadn't driven a car in 34 years because she always used the New Orleans public transportation system, but now she needs to drive again.
Harris recently found himself in a peculiar position as the instructor when his car had a flat tire.
He thought it would be a good time to teach the students how to change a tire, but it turned out he didn't have a spare.
"I just assumed I had a spare," he said.
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