The total driver education course is short and offers a limited opportunity to influence our student's longterm driving habits. In the end, no matter how hard we try, no matter how well we teach, no one can affect your child’s driving habits more than you. That’s why our goal is to lay a basic foundation for driver education that can be successfully established by parents, friends, and relatives.
Please note that while The State of Maine requires a minimum of 35 hours of adult supervision when the student is driving with a permit, Mullen's Driving School recommends a minimum of 100 hours behind the wheel before a student takes the test in order to reduce the potential of crashes and injuries. This also increases the percentage of students who pass on the first try.
The Highway Transportation System and Risk Management
Understanding and Applying the SIPDE Process or Understanding and Using the Smith System
Understanding Regulatory and Warning Signs
- Guide and international signs
- Understanding the purpose of pavement markings
- Responding to traffic control signals
- Right-of-way rules are essential
- Speed limits help in reducing risks
- Visibility and protective systems of your sutomobile
- Information and communication systems of your sutomobile
- Checks and procedures to use before driving
- Acceleration, deceleration and speed
- Learning how to steer the automobile
- Moving from a curb into traffic and out of traffic to a curb
- How to prepare for and execute a right turn and a left turn
- How to prepare for and execute a parking maneuver
- Planning and executing a reverse in direction
- Managing power and speed on hills and mountains
- Visibility, time and space on rural roads, urban roads and multiple-lane highways
- Managing visibility, time and space when changing lanes
- Passing another vehicle and being passed
- Physical, psychological and social readiness
- Handling social pressures
Light and Weather Conditions
Sharing the Roadway
Natural Laws and Driving
Responding to an Emergency
Buying a Vehicle
Car Systems and Maintenance
Peer Pressure and Teenage Drivers
As always, we encourage you to talk to your child's teacher if you have any questions. If there's anything specific you think we should discuss in class, please call. Our goal is the same as yours: to ensure a lifetime of safe driving.
