Driver Education
Community Education offers teen driver education in cooperation with Safeway Driving School. Safeway Driving School has been graduating teen drivers in the Twin Cities area for over 50 years. Safeway’s only focus is creating safe, responsible teen drivers. Classroom and behind-the-wheel lessons emphasize defensive driving techniques tailored for the inexperienced teen driver while targeting to influence the invincible teen attitude. All of Safeway’s instructors are licensed by the Minnesota Dept. of Public Safety.
Classroom instruction prepares the student to take the Minnesota permit test and begin the responsibility of driving. The 30 hours of classroom instruction is structured into 10 independent lessons. Students must be on time for all classes. If a student misses a lesson, they can schedule a make-up lesson at Safeway Driving's website. After class is completed, students that are 15 years old are eligible to take their permit test at any Minnesota exam center. Students can take the class at age 14½ but cannot take their permit test until age 15.
Behind-the-wheel instruction includes six hours of driving in three, two-hour private lessons. All driving is done in a real car on actual city streets, highways and freeways with a responsible, licensed Safeway instructor. Safeway recommends students take their first lesson 6-8 weeks after receiving their permit. The lessons should be a minimum of 30 days apart to allow for practice driving. The lessons can be completed up to one year after completing classroom. Scheduling is offered online for 24/7 convenience. All of Safeway’s cars are white with identical graphics, so parents and students are confident that it is a Safeway car picking up the student for a lesson.
Parent involvement is required to produce safe, responsible teen drivers. It is critical that parents plan to practice regularly with their new student drivers. State law requires 50 hours of practice documented on a log that is turned in at the road test. If a parent attends a Safeway Parent Class, the practice time is reduced to 40 hours. Safeway offers detailed information on its web site to assist parents with understanding Minnesota laws and requirements for student drivers. Safeway strongly encourages parents to review its parent information, attend a Parent Class or watch the online Parent Class videos at www.safewaydrivingschool.com.
Parents/guardians will be required to complete Safeway's Account Verification. Safeway will be sending out an email before class begins that gives detailed information about how to login to the student's Safeway account to verify and complete contact information and to review and acknowledge our Service Agreement.
Cost of the teen package is $399 and includes the classroom, behind-the-wheel lessons and all materials. There are no hidden charges or additional fuel surcharges. Pay in full upon registration or choose the payment plan: $249 to Community Education upon registration and two installments of $75 to Safeway at the behind-the-wheel lessons.
