Tune Up Your Driving Skills

By: State: Connecticut | Source: AARP.org

Governor M. Jodi Rell has proclaimed May as AARP Driver Safety Program Month in Connecticut, in honor of the first and largest classroom driver safety course designed especially for drivers 50+.
 
AARP's Driver Safety Program began more than thirty years ago and has since provided instruction to more than 12 million drivers nationally, and more than 250,000 in Connecticut, seeking to refresh their driving skills. Thanks to legislation passed in 2008, those completing the course in Connecticut are now eligible to receive a mandatory discount on their auto liability insurance.

The AARP Driver Safety Program is designed to educate participants about how best to reduce traffic violations, crashes and chances for injuries; update drivers' knowledge of relevant laws; and provide safe driving strategies to compensate for age-related changes that affect one's driving ability. The 8-hour course offers drivers important strategies for staying crash-free, insight into the challenges of city versus suburban driving, tips for highway driving and driving with trucks, buses and other large vehicles, suggestions for handling aggressive drivers, and signs to help measure one's unsafe driving habits.

In 2009, the AARP Driver Safety Program will offer more than 700 classes to 14,000 participants in over 50 cities and towns throughout Connecticut taught by a group of 150 volunteers.

To learn more, locate a course near you or register for a class, go to www.aarp.org/drive.