How many speeding tickets have you gotten? I’ve been slapped with four, but it has been 10 years since my last ticket. I guess you could chalk it up to those crazy days of youth-filled exuberance. Or maybe I was just being stupid and irresponsible, when you consider that speeding was a contributing factor in 30 percent of all fatal traffic accidents in 2012. For whatever reason, I behaved inappropriately and deserved discipline, even if it was frustrating at the time. This included a fine as well as driver education to keep points from being added to my license. I have now passed the course in every available format—in-person, VHS, DVD, and eLearning. Gold star for me!

Speeding along

Figure 1: Speeding along with eLearning content (Source:https://www.pexels.com/photo/road-car-blurred-morning-sun-46277/; used under CC0 license)

If you’ve ever completed driver education, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that it’s insufferably boring and almost completely irrelevant. I was pulled over for a very specific reason: driving just a few miles per hour faster than I should have without regard for the possible consequence. But, rather than address my specific behavioral failure, the government put me through the same generic traffic course that everyone gets. After all, they need this option to support theestimated 25 to 50 million traffic citations issued every year. My training included topics like safe following distance, road signs, and driving under the influence, none of which related to my problem. Not only was the content irrelevant, it also came with a required seat time, meaning I could not progress until the timer on each section elapsed regardless of my knowledge or effort. So what did I do? I moved through the content as quickly as possible and then multitasked until the timer expired. I passed the test. I checked the box. So that’s all the effort I should have to put in, right?