For Immediate Release: April 6, 2009
Contact: Tiffany Lundquist, 410-895-7614, tlundquist@aarp.org
TEST YOUR DRIVING KNOWLEDGE, LEARN LATEST SAFE DRIVING TIPS IN FOUR HOURS
AARP Maryland Announces New 4-Hour Driver Safety Program
Baltimore – Quick, in Maryland how far must you stop behind a school bus with flashing lights? Where should you place your hands on the steering wheel? How far from the steering wheel should you sit?
If you have forgotten the answers to these questions or think they haven’t changed since you first got your driver’s license, you are a prime candidate for the AARP Driver Safety Program’s new 4-hour course.
Over the past 30 years, the AARP Driver Safety Program has provided instruction to more than 12 million participants seeking to refresh their driving skills. Now the course is available in Maryland in a new 4-hour version. The course helps drivers learn how best to reduce traffic violations, crashes, and chances for injuries; update their knowledge of recent changes in laws and car design; and develop safe driving strategies to compensate for age-related changes. The new 4-hour course also stresses the importance of periodically monitoring your own and your loved ones’ driving capabilities. An exhaustive workbook offers self tests and quick tips to challenge any complacency that has crept into your driving over the years.
“This new 4-hour course is a great way for drivers to refocus on safety, especially as they get ready for the vacation season,” says Ada Bloom, an AARP driver safety state coordinator. “Each of us needs to take responsibility for keeping up our own driving skills and monitoring those of family members, whether young or old. The new 4-hour AARP Driver Safety course is a one-stop way to do it.”
The 4-hour Driver Safety course was piloted in Kentucky and Wisconsin and proved so popular it became a substitute for the original 8-hour version of the course. It is gradually becoming available in 20 other states. An 8-hour interactive online version of the course is available at www.aarp.org/driver/online.
Courses are scheduled throughout Maryland in the coming weeks; dates and locations follow. For information on these and other local courses, please call 1-888-227-7669 or visit us at www.aarp.org/drive.
April 7 – Odenton
April 8 – Bowie
April 9 – Bowie
April 11 – Hugheville
April 14 – Hagerstown
April 16 – Rosedale
April 17 – Westminster
April 17 – Brooklyn
April 18 – La Plata
April 18 – Silver Spring
April 21 – Randallstown
April 22 – Waldorf
April 22 – Salisbury
April 23 – Hyattsville
April 24 – Chevy Chase
April 27 – Greenmount
April 30 – Columbia
May 1 – Salisbury
May 11 – Glen Burnie
May 14 – Columbia
May 18 – Berlin
May 21 – Laurel
May 28 – Hyattsville
About AARP
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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About the 50th Anniversary
