Driver education

§ 806-a. Driver education. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all school districts providing instruction in driver education shall include in such instruction: (a) a driver safety component with an emphasis on the effects of alcohol and drug use, (b) instruction in motorcycle safety awareness. The commissioner, upon approval by the commissioner of motor vehicles, shall establish a curriculum for the alcohol and drug education component which shall include but not be limited to: instruction describing the hazards of driving while impaired or intoxicated; the penalties for alcohol related motor vehicle violations including sanctions set forth in the penal law that apply to homicides and assaults arising out of the operation of a motor vehicle while intoxicated and those sanctions set forth in the vehicle and traffic law relating to driving while intoxicated; and the medical, biological and physiological effects of the consumption of alcohol and their impact on the operation of a motor vehicle.

2. The commissioner, upon approval of the commissioner of motor vehicles, shall establish by regulation a certification process by driver education courses of the amount of time a holder of a class DJ or class MJ learner's permit has spent operating a motor vehicle while under the immediate supervision of a driver education teacher. A certificate issued pursuant to this subdivision shall be deemed to be proof of all or a portion of the supervised driving experience required under certification pursuant to paragraph (d) of subdivision two of section five hundred two of the vehicle and traffic law.