High Desert Driver Education, a program for Redmond teenagers, is revving up for a summer of full classes.

Though the Oregon DMV has a continuous shortage of teen driver’s education instructors and trainers, teenagers are still signing up in droves to learn how to drive this summer.

Luckily, High Desert Driver Education has enough instructors to have two classes in Bend and two in Redmond this summer, according to Nancy Haase, the program’s manager.

“What’s really nice about our program is that we can introduce new techniques and skills that probably aren’t going to be taught to the new driver by their parents or guardians,” said Haase.

“As you know, we all develop our own little bad habits, and a lot of times it’s nice to start them out fresh and new and show them the proper way of doing things and kind of explain to them why we do those things.”

Michelle Godfrey, the DMV’s spokesperson, said there are several kinds of driver’s education programs across the state. Those approved through the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Teen Driver Education Program, as High Desert Driver Education is, are allowed to let students waive their DMV drive test once they’ve completed the course. Other courses may not include the option to skip the drive test, or may test the students themselves and arrange for the DMV to see the test scores.

“This is one of the things that allows us to keep driver’s education accessible to more kids,” said Godfrey.

Programs are spread out throughout the state. It can be a two-hour drive in a rural area to the nearest driver’s education course, Godfrey said.

Trainers are in short supply because they need to be driver’s education instructors first, and the course ODOT uses is primarily offered through Western Oregon University, in Monmouth, which may be a barrier for some people.

“Funding is always a problem,” said Godfrey. “If we had more funding, we might be able to do more outreach and provide more education in more rural areas, but as it stands, it’s not available.”

Seven weeks of instruction

High Desert Driver Education is a program of the High Desert Education Service District. The curriculum was developed by ODOT in collaboration with Western Oregon University, said Haase.

The not-for-profit program, which costs $799 for teenagers, runs over seven weeks and includes instruction both in the classroom and behind the wheel. Students must bring their drive-test waivers to the DMV, and have their parents or guardians attest to their having 50 additional hours of supervised driving practice under their belts. If students were not part of the program, they would need 100 additional hours, Haase said.

“It put a little bit more pressure on our program, but it’s nice for the students to take that behind the wheel instruction with someone they’ve gotten to know over the previous five weeks of driving,” said Haase.

Haase has been with the program for 11 years, starting out as a part-time instructor behind the wheel prior to jumping into the manager role last July.

Instructors mostly either work on the side with a full-time job or have retired and picked up the job as a way to fill their time. Instructors need to be trained in driver’s education first, which involves a 120-hour training course through Western Oregon University’s certification program via ODOT.

Central Oregon has a new training starting in September, and Haase is looking forward to adding new instructors.

“We lost some during COVID,” she said. “Finding someone that wants to do this is a bit of challenge, and then on top of that, they have to go through the training.” Instructors can’t be hired until they receive their certification.

Building up the program

High Desert Driver Education always has a high demand and a waitlist because it can only offer as many spots as it has drivers to drive and to teach students. Ideally, Haase would like to have two additional classes, as the program did last year, but doesn’t have the instructors available.

Haase is working on building the program back up, and is looking to expand into Sisters. There is a teacher at the high school who is planning to take the training.

“We’ve had classes in La Pine, Madras … but we’re not able to do it right now, because of our limited instructor base,” said Haase.

High Desert Driver Education, which serves close to 900 students a year, is looking to partner with local vehicle dealerships to lease cars to use in behind-the-wheel practice, as the state recently ended its car leasing option. The program will advertise the dealership in exchange.

Classes are full for this summer, and Haase is looking forward to getting the fall schedule up and running. Things are looking up, she said.

“(Students) use what they learn in the classroom and they apply it to behind the wheel. And they have time then to practice that during the week between drives, and so it’s just kinda nice to know that we’re starting them out on the right path for driving,” said Haase.

Registration for the High Desert Driver Education program can be found at their website: https://www.hddrivered.org/.