The Mixed Bag of Driver Education DEADLY A vigil was held this month for two teenagers killed when a train hit their car in Missouri. THERE is no debate about this fact: The first year that American teenagers have their driver's licenses will be among the most dangerous of their lives. Nothing kills more of them than car crashes. There is a debate over this carnage, but it is over the effectiveness of driver education courses. Do they save lives, as most everyone thinks, or weaken safeguards that have been in place for years? It at first sounds like an argument not worth having, but over the last 15 years every state has passed graduated licensing laws, which grant driving privileges for young drivers in stages. Among other restrictions, inexperienced drivers can be barred from driving at night or having young, nonfamily passengers. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit group financed by insurers, released a report in May that found that since states began enacting graduated licensing laws in 1996, the teenage death rate had decreased steadily. There is no national standard for driver education courses, although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently distributed guidelines. But those are not a mandate, and one problem, the insurance institute says, is that in 16 states drivers who complete education courses can sidestep some graduated licensing restrictions, including the age limit to receive a learner's permit, requirements for hours practicing behind the wheel, and passenger and night-driving limitations. The education programs that allow "teens to bypass graduated driver licensing restrictions that have been proven to be effective may be more harmful than good," said Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the institute. It's counterproductive. Without a national standard, driver education in the United States varies widely. Oregon, for example, receives effusive praise from safety experts for the comprehensive curriculum it offers that has helped reduce the teenage accident rate there. But other states fall far short. "There are more kids on the road without even the basic education and skills that kids used to get," said John Ulczycki, a vice president for the nonprofit National Safety Council. While driver education has generally improved in the last 10 years, he said, some states do not require it at all. "The state requirements for new drivers taking driver ed prior to licensing are inconsistent and all over the map," Mr. Ulczycki said. When Caroline Summers of Caddo Mills, Tex., was 15, driver education was not offered at her high school or in her rural town, so her training - online, behind the wheel and through videos - was under the supervision of her parents. "I got a license and never took a road test with a public official," said Ms. Summers, now 18. My father just signed the paperwork and vouched for me, and that was it. The law in Texas has since been strengthened. By contrast, Alec Malnati, 17, said driver education at Tigard High School in Oregon taught him to avoid many risky behaviors like tailgating and turning on signal lights too late or not at all. Instructors "taught me to take a more cautious approach at all times," he said. In the 1970s, 95 percent of eligible students nationwide received driver education, primarily through public schools. That number has dropped as public financing decreased and the courses shifted to private companies, said Allen Robinson, chief executive of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, a nonprofit group that represents traffic safety educators. "Instead of being available to anybody who wants it, it is more readily available to those who can pay first," Dr. Robinson said. Peter Kissinger, president and chief executive of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, said that cutbacks had spawned "faster, cheaper, but not necessarily better programs." Online programs, which are available in 15 states, he said, "are virtually unregulated."