Parkside Driving School

Washington is in the midst of major changes to driver education right now. Parkside is working hard with state and national partners to help these changes be helpful for new drivers in our area. One of the projects we are involved in is looking for feedback from young novice drivers and their families, and they're offering a $25 gift card!!! You can be part of the solution. See details below!

Dear Driver,
You are invited to participate in a research study led by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) under BTSCRP-37, “Strategies to Improve Access to Driver Education and Training for Novice Drivers.” Their goal is to identify barriers and develop practical strategies that help state highway safety offices, state driver licensing agencies, and departments of education improve access to driver education and training for all prospective drivers.
They are hosting an online focus group with drivers across age groups, including:
Teen drivers (under 18) and their parent/caregiver
Young drivers (18–24)
Older adult drivers (25+)
Any age drivers who identify as neurodivergent (e.g., ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia/dyscalculia, dyspraxia/ coordination differences, or, speech or language disorder)
All participants who take part in the focus group will receive a $25 Amazon gift card.
As central stakeholders, your input is invaluable to identify barriers to accessing driver education and informing strategies to improve access for future drivers.
Each group will participate in a separate focus group session on Zoom for 60-90 minutes. To help them place you in the appropriate session, please fill out this short form (https://tti.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1AIqaLdP1zgXlvU). We will follow up with the session date and time once your response has been received.

The State of Washington is making changes to driver education. Parkside is on the leading edge to help the state bring novice driver training up to date. We know some of these changes may be popular while others not so much. Regardless, here's a quick list. Please share your thoughts if you like.

Beginning 1/1/27 - All new drivers under age 19 must take a training course. This requirement increases to age 20 on 1/1/28, and age 21 on 1/1/29. This training requirement eventually extends to age 25 in a reduced way.

Financial assistance for low income - A voucher system is being created to assist low income new drivers pay for training.

Mandatory additional training for those who commit multiple moving violations - Drivers who receive multiple tickets within a specific time, will be required to take a course to avoid a license suspension.

Online Drivers Ed - Since Covid, schools have been allowed to hold classes via Zoom (or similar) virtual platforms. This law change allows schools to continue to choose to provide in-person, virtual, self-paced online, or a blend of those.

There are other changes as well, but this post is long enough. Share your thoughts!

Hey Parkside Fans!

This Monday the 8th at 10AM. Go to parksidedriving.com and register for one of our summer classes.

Don't be slow. Some classes will sell out quickly.

Home | Parkside Driving School The story about Parkside is not so typical. We not only have a passion for traffic safety, we also race cars in competition.

Due to an unavoidable conflict, our Yakima office will not open Friday 7/28 until about noon. You can leave a voicemail for us if you need and we will call you as soon as we can.

Registration for fall classes will still open at 10AM on parksidedriving.com. In most cases, you can handle that registration process without calling us or coming to the office.

We apologize for the inconvenience.