study finds/claims that Indiana's Driver's Ed is not working

My first thought is that this is provided by the government, so that would be no surprise.

But the second thought is that there's selection bias here-- since those who seek driver's ed through govt schools are not a random sample from the population. It may be that those who pursue that sort of driver's ed may be more prone to accidents to start with. Unless the study accounted for this, then the inference is put into doubt.

From the AP (hat tip: Indy's TV-channel 6)...

Indiana lawmakers say the state's driver education program isn't working, citing a fractured system administered by three separate agencies and statistics that put the program's usefulness in doubt. Public affairs director Sarah Meyer of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles told a group of state lawmakers last week that a study of current drivers under 18 showed those who took driver's education had nearly four times the crashes that those who didn't take the classes had. Nearly 5 percent of the 51,000 teens who took driver's education had one or more reported accidents, compared with 1 percent of the 71,932 drivers without formal driver training.

That's a funny way to put it. Nothing is said about privately-provided driver's ed. In any case, "formal" is defined as govt-provided-- and again, given the assertion from the study, is less effective.

"Why do we even offer driver's education?" asked Rep. Phil Hinkle, R-Indianapolis, after hearing the statistics.

Now, that's a good question-- both philosophically and practically. Why not outsource this to the private sector? If we're worried about getting driver's ed to those with lower incomes, we might use vouchers instead of having the service produced and managed by the govt.