A New Plan For Universal Driver’s Education

Common Ground Southeastern Wisconsin unveiled a plan Tuesday afternoon to attempt to address the city’s reckless driving problem. The solutions-focused nonprofit advocacy organization is calling for universal, affordable driver’s education courses for all Milwaukee high school students.

Approximately 100 Common Ground members joined Mayor Cavalier Johnson at City Hall for a press conference to sign letters asking American Family Insurance, State Farm Insurance and Progressive Insurance to commit to leading the funding of the program. A Common Ground representative said the three companies represent 50% of Wisconsin drivers.

“I believe that every young driver should know the rules of the road,” said Johnson, who declared reckless driving a public safety crisis as his first act as mayor and unveiled a multi-pronged plan to combat it. An international movement calls for “three Es” to tackle reckless driving: engineering, enforcement and education. Much of the discussion to date at City Hall has focused on engineering and enforcement.

“This problem affects everyone, urban, suburban, young and old,” said Common Ground strategy team volunteer member Jonathan Gundlach of reckless driving.

The program would not be limited to just Milwaukee Public Schools students. “We’re talking all students, from public, choice and charter schools,” said Gundlach. “All of our kids should learn to drive the right way.”

Milwaukee Recreation senior director Lynn Greb joined Johnson and Common Ground leaders at the press conference. The MPS division provides more than 2,000 students a year with driver’s education, but demand far exceeds the available funding. “The demand far exceeds the available seats,” said Greb of the latter program. “Ultimately we would like to serve more than 5,000 students per year.”

MPS offers two driver’s education programs currently. A community-based program, which costs $150 for participants after a subsidy, serves approximately 300 students per year said Greb. A free program, MPS Drive, was launched in 2016 and serves approximately 2,000 students per year.

“This campaign will not solve the problem of reckless driving in our region, but it is very important to be teaching safe driving habits,” said Brenda McMurtry, a volunteer member of Common Ground’s strategy team.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Gundlach.

Johnson and others said providing Milwaukee with driver’s education would not only improve safety for everyone, but would also improve job access for those receiving the training.