Robert Bates said Eastern is one of the public institutions in Illinois that offer driver’s education classes.

Bates is a health studies professor.

He said many people come to Eastern because it offers a driving education minor.

Bates also said Eastern’s driver’s education program has unique equipment such as the Skid Monster. He said Eastern is the only institution in the state with a Skid Monster and that it is a car attachment that helps students learn how to deal with losing control of a car.

Richard Cavanaugh, a health studies professor, said they use the Skid Monster for the Advanced Driving Maneuvers class.

“It’s fun, but it’s a learning too as well,” he said.

Cavanaugh said he will also be using several pieces of new equipment for the first time during the program’s summer sessions.

These include onboard video cameras for the training vehicles and walkie-talkies to communicate between the vehicles during exercises.

Though the program has had some of this equipment the previous semester, Cavanaugh said he was not able to use it because he was on sabbatical.

He said he thinks the cameras will be excellent teaching tools that he can use in the classroom.

“We can look at it and learn what we’re doing well and what we need to improve on,” Cavanaugh said.

He said coordinating several training vehicles during an exercise can be difficult and the communication from the walkie-talkies will help avoid potentially dangerous situations.

“They will help us talk to each other safely,” Cavanaugh said.

He said currently the students in the education endorsement part of the program have been teaching each other so they can practice showing student’s how to drive.

Cavanaugh said the students involved already know how to drive and usually they teach international students who do not have an American driver’s license.

“They’re a good source of subjects because they want to learn and we want to teach, and you can’t beat that combination,” he said.

Bates said they also teach many international students in the beginner’s driver’s education class, which is a non-credit hour class. Bates said the education endorsement class is a four-semester hour course.

Both Cavanaugh and Bates said the program also teaches many Eastern students from urbanized areas, such as Chicago, how to drive.

Cavanaugh said most metropolitan areas have a wealth of public transportation so many teenagers end up putting off getting their license.

Bates said he has noticed more students putting off getting their license in recent years.

“It’s not a rite of passage as it was in previous generations,” he said. “In my generation, you were an independent adult as soon as you got your license.”

Bates said he has heard the reason for this delay attributed to many factors, such as the required 100 hours of behind-the-wheel practice, new driving restrictions, and the cost of driving and gas.

He said the topic is multi-faceted and he thinks it might have something to do with the increase in electronic communication and the students do not need to drive to speak with their friends.

“We all have social needs, perhaps their social needs are being met electronically,” Bates said.

Cavanaugh agreed with Bates and said he would expect Eastern’s population to reflect this change though he is not certain without conducting a study.

“I can’t say for sure, but my gut reaction would be yes,” he said.

Seth Schroeder can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].