Section 13D: High schools; required subjects; driver training
Section 13D. Motor vehicle driving education may be incorporated as a phase of the safety education program in high schools of the commonwealth. The content of driver education courses shall be established by the registrar of motor vehicles. No school committee and no high school, public or private, shall employ a person to conduct a driver education course unless the person is certified by the registrar as a driving instructor. Courses in motor vehicle driver education may be given as evening courses in the schools of any town for the training of persons under twenty-five years of age. No person shall be precluded from taking any such course because he is licensed to operate motor vehicles. School committees may fix reasonable fees for tuition in such evening courses or may provide that no fee shall be charged. If a motor vehicle driver education course is required pursuant to the provisions of section thirteen such courses shall consist of classroom and behind-the-wheel training; provided, however, that no school committee shall be required to include behind-the-wheel training during the regular school day as part of such course.
The front seats of motor vehicles used for driver education under this section shall be equipped with safety belts for the instructor and the pupil.
A driver education course shall include a motorcycle awareness program module, as approved by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, to ensure that new operators of motor vehicles have some knowledge and awareness of motorcycles on roadways for the safety of motorcyclists. Two dollars from each motorcycle registration fee paid under section 34 of chapter 90 shall be used to fund the cost of the required materials for the motorcycle awareness program module required by this section.
A driver education course shall include a module on the science related to addiction and addictive substances, including the impact of psychoactive substances on the brain and the effect of such substances on a person while operating a motor vehicle.