State could take control of driver's ed
by Mike Hasten - The Town Talk (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- If you or your teenaged son or daughter want to get a driver's license, a course sanctioned by the state could soon be required under legislation approved by a House committee Tuesday. In HB534 by Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, all driver training courses taught in schools or at private driving academies would have to comply with a uniform set of regulations on how much classroom and driving time are required.

Nick Gautreaux, commissioner of the Office of Motor Vehicles, said it is important to have uniformity in requirements. Also, instructors would have the same training. "In some schools, kids are only driving three hours," he said. "There are people taking kids in cars and driving them around for eight hours and saying that's eight hours driving time."

Gautreaux said "it's really important for kids" to have many more hours behind the wheel before qualifying for a license because the accident and death rate among young drivers is too high.