That’s a great question.  There are many reasons why going to a third-party driving school is well worth the cost, even though you legally don’t have to take classes. Learn more here.

Arizona State Law

In the state of Arizona, you don’t have to take any formal education class before you go in to apply for your driver’s license.  It’s perfectly legal to just study the driver’s manual and have your parent or legal guardian teach you how to drive. Learn more about Driving School: Not Just for Teenagers.

 

The state Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division, only requires that you keep a log of your time behind the wheel and it must add up to 30 hours of supervised training.  Out of those 30 hours, ten of them must be after dark.

Downsides

If you feel like you can’t afford a driving school, it seems like a good idea to save money to have your parent or legal guardian train you.  There are big downsides to learning how to drive from your parent or legal guardian.

Habits

First, any adult driver will fall into bad habits after driving for years and years.  It’s only natural to get sloppy and want to hurry when you are driving.  Eventually, these driving shortcuts turn into bad habits.  Maybe your parent or legal guardian doesn’t even realize that they hardly ever use their turn signals. Or maybe they are natural tailgaters. 

They don’t mean to, but your parent or legal guardian can pass along their bad driving skills to you.  You will think turn signals are optional.  You might start following too closely because it seems to work out for Dad or Mom.  You might think it’s OK to speed on certain streets because everyone else seems to do that.

Laws

Driving laws change over time.  One good example of this is the right-turn law.  It has become legal to make a right turn on a red light, as long as you have come to a complete stop, and as long as you yield to any oncoming traffic.

There are lots of other small laws that change.  Unless your parent or legal guardian has recently studied the Arizona driver’s manual, they may not be aware of newer driving laws.  

A Good Judge?

Is your parent or legal guardian a good judge of your driving skills?  Do they know if you are ready for the test? It’s very frustrating to put in 30 hours behind the wheel and then fail the road test at the MDV. Not to mention being embarrassed in front of your friends.

Driving School

So those are three really good reasons to go to a driving school.  One, you won’t pick up the bad habits of your parent or legal guardian.  Two, a driving school is constantly on top of the newest laws.  It’s what they do for a living, so they want to make sure they are teaching the best information available. Three, your chances of passing the road test and the written test are much higher if you take advantage of classes at a third-party driving school.