[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1729 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1729

  To establish driver education curriculum for teenage drivers and to 
  provide grants to States and tribal governments to carry out driver 
            education training for licensed teenage drivers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 30, 2009

  Mr. Schumer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish driver education curriculum for teenage drivers and to 
  provide grants to States and tribal governments to carry out driver 
            education training for licensed teenage drivers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CONTINUED DRIVER EDUCATION COURSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Automobile crashes are the leading cause of death of 
        teenagers in the United States.
            (2) Every year, more than 5,000 teenagers die from fatal 
        injuries suffered in automobile accidents in the United States 
        and an additional 400,000 teenage drivers are seriously 
        injured.
            (3) According to the American Automobile Association, 
        research on the effectiveness of driver education indicates 
        that graduates of driver education programs have 50 percent 
        fewer accidents per capita than drivers who have not received 
        driver education.
    (b) Defined Term.--In this Act, the term ``teenager'' means any 
person who is at least 16 years of age and younger than 20 years of 
age.
    (c) Continued Driver Education Program.--Not later than 6 months 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Transportation shall develop curriculum for continued driver education 
courses for teenagers, which shall include classroom and driving 
instruction.
    (d) Continued Driver Education Training Grants.--
            (1) Grants authorized.--Not later than 90 days after the 
        development of curriculum under subsection (c), the Secretary 
        of Transportation shall establish a program to award grants to 
        States and tribal governments to provide continued driver 
        training courses for teenagers who are licensed drivers.
            (2) Application.--A State or tribal government desiring a 
        grant under this subsection shall submit an application that 
        describes--
                    (A) the individual who will teach the driver 
                training course;
                    (B) the locations at which the course will be 
                taught; and
                    (C) how the teaching methods that will be used in 
                the course are consistent with the curriculum developed 
                by the Secretary under subsection (c).
            (3) Priority.--In approving applications for grants 
        submitted under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall give 
        priority to States and tribal governments that--
                    (A) maximize the participation of teenage drivers 
                in the proposed driver training course; and
                    (B) supplement the grant funds received under this 
                subsection with additional Federal, State, tribal 
                government, or private resources to carry out the 
                driver training course.
            (4) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
        to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out 
        the grant program authorized under this subsection.
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