AUGUSTA, Maine — In an Augusta ballroom, a crowd of driving instructors gathered to discuss how best to prepare the next generation of safe drivers.
The Maine Secretary of State’s office helped host the summit, and Secretary Shenna Bellows spoke about the importance of new drivers getting off on the right foot.
"A drivers license is a critical pathway of opportunity for every Mainer seeking to participate in daily society," she said in an interview outside the ballroom. "Driver education is fundamental to every aspect of safer drivers, safer roads, and safer outcomes."
More than 200 instructors—half of the state's roster, according to AAA—listened to speakers for eight hours, covering a wide range of topics like "emerging vehicle technology everyone should be aware of" and driving lesson design for optimal driving safety outcomes.
Shawn MacDonald gave the latter address. He helps manage crash records for the Maine Department of Transportation. Every crash is documented and broken down for the public on the DoT website.
A total of 20,788 crashes were reported so far in 2022, as of Tuesday.
The site can break crashes down by almost any metric imaginable: location, circumstance, severity, and time of day. There is also a map, so parents and instructors can find neighborhoods or even intersections where crashes frequently occur.
"We’re doing it for the instructors," MacDonald said. "And they’re gonna be working with the students right out in the field. I think what they’re probably going to take away from most of it is, they can look at just the areas they want to. They can focus their information specifically on their town."
Also, what can the data tell us about ourselves?
The Memorial Circle roundabout in Augusta is home to the most crashes in the state: 142 so far this year as of Tuesday. But, only 32 of those crashes resulted in injury.
It could be said the roundabout is doing its job of preventing dangerous, high-speed intersection crossings, or maybe, drivers simply need to get better at navigating it. Perhaps, the roundabout idea was sound but the engineering created too complex an intersection for drivers to comfortably navigate.
Vince Baldwin’s job, as an instructor in Presque Isle, is to make sure every new driver has the skills to navigate roundabouts, off-ramps, and yields.
Tuesday’s conference came after the state asked federal evaluators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to review driving schools statewide. Baldwin welcomed it.
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"Look at driver's education and the instructors that provide this driver's education as a whole, and open up the better lines of communication and training," he suggested.
Because, in the end, it comes down to how much useful knowledge Baldwin and his peers can make sure is retained by new drivers before they hit the road on their own.