SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 48

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2006

INTRODUCED BY

Joseph J. Carraro

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE TRAFFIC SAFETY BUREAU OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO STUDY THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF INCREASING THE USE OF SIMULATOR DRIVER TRAINING FOR ON-ROAD DRIVER TRAINING.

     WHEREAS, a motor vehicle accident occurs about every ten minutes in New Mexico, resulting in an injury every twenty minutes and a death every seventeen hours in 2004; and

     WHEREAS, young drivers between the ages of fifteen years and nineteen years have the highest crash rate; and

     WHEREAS, better driver education, including the increased use of driving simulators, may help reduce the crash rate for young drivers; and

     WHEREAS, the use of driving simulators has the advantage of safely exposing students to the hazards of day-to-day driving situations and can help improve the motor skills reaction time and decision-making process of students; and

     WHEREAS, regulations adopted by the department of transportation require for-profit driver education schools to provide at least seven hours of behind-the-wheel instruction to each student and restrict the use of driving simulators by counting two hours of simulator training as just one hour of on-the-road training;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the traffic safety bureau of the department of transportation be requested to study the potential benefits of increasing the use of driving simulators as a substitute for on-the-road training and that the department be requested to consider allowing time on simulator training to be counted equally to on-the-road training; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of transportation and the chief of the traffic safety bureau.

- 2 -