“I’ve been working at the Department of Driver Services for 29 years and I don’t consider myself an expert.”

This was the reply by an employee in the executive offices of the State of Georgia DDS when asked what or who determines someone to be an expert.

I was in a meeting, presenting a new Defensive Driving Course entitled “Time To Get Defensive”, which I had co-authored with a 19-year veteran of the State of Georgia’s Defensive Driving and DUI accredited program, and who was also in attendance at the meeting with three DDS executives.

I would consider someone who’s been teaching 19 years to be an ‘expert’ in the material he presented based on experience and education. They disagreed, saying his statements in the manual we presented and in the sample demonstration he provided needed to be authenticated by a third party or they would be construed as ‘opinion’ and not considered factual.

It seems the Department of Driver Services needs ‘proof’ that the statements made in the sample class we presented could be backed up with ‘published’ documents from credible research. They are asking for a bibliography for an instructor’s training manual.

Furthermore, according to the Georgia Department of Driver Services, someone taking a defensive driving class may not know a stop sign means ‘STOP’. Therefore, if the teacher of the defensive driving class makes that statement, it must be also stated that “according to such and such state law, page __, paragraph___, the red octogon sign means you have to bring your vehicle to a halt.”

Reason and common sense tells one that someone taking a defensive driving class already has a driver’s license and knows about a stop sign. Else, how did they get the license to start with? So, common sense plays no part in teaching students in a Defensive Driving class?

Is the state of Georgia employing a group of dummies, or are we just assuming that residents and drivers of this state are a bunch of dummies?

I may have been convinced to think the former.

“Time To Get Defensive” is a six-hour course to prevent unnecessary deaths and to preserve health, time, and money of those who, without this course, may become victims. It’s dedicated to a young 26-year-old Cobb County, Georgia, Police Officer and his wife who were killed in a needless automobile accident caused by a drug impaired driver on a rainy evening in 1995. An innocent infant became an orphan while riding in a child-restraining belted seat in the rear.

According to the meeting with the State of Georgia, Department of Driver Services executives, we needed to get permission from the family of the deceased to use the police officer’s name. Nowhere in history that I know of, does a person need permission to dedicate a book or training manual (but then, I haven’t researched it, either).

They claim we could be sued.

The dedication was due to the fact the co-author and 19-year Defensive Driving instructor was on-the-scene of the accident, and in fact, was involved in it.

According to the DDS, any new Defensive Driving Course has to be written so an instructor can READ the course material to the class and have it understood by the attendees.  Now, if an instructor has to READ the instruction manual to his class, he/she obviously does not know the material well enough and should not even be a teacher.

Our manual was written so the class would be interactive. . . more discussion rather than dull statements or lecturing where the class participants fall asleep (inactive). It was designed to encourage inter-activity (someone, somewhere determined active participation results in more retention). However, the State wants actual dialog as content. Naturally, real dialog is ad-lib, making it almost impossible to satisfy the State’s demands.

I read through another manual that passed their review. I was shocked at the typographical errors and elementary layout. I guess intelligence doesn’t count where the training is concerned. Ignorance of English language is acceptable but a dedication is not.

As the copyrighter, I will make another attempt to satisfy the State of Georgia. The Department of Driver Services needs to retire some of their people and get in some others who have more common sense. (My humble opinion.)

Go to Part 2 . . .

Sphere: Related Content