Waubonsee Community College has won recognition for its work to educate thousands of drivers each year, making roadways in Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties and beyond safer.
In September, Waubonsee’s Driver Safety Program received three awards during the National Safety Council’s National Safety Congress event in San Diego.
Waubonsee received NSC Trend Setter awards for its Defensive Driving 4-hour Online Course, also known as DDC-4 Online, and its Alive At 25 program.
The college received an honorable mention for the original classroom-based version of its Defensive Driving 4-Hour Course, or DDC-4.
Dennis Schmidt, Waubonsee’s Driver Safety Manager, said the awards serve as positive recognition of the college’s efforts to improve driver safety in the region.
“It shows how active the college’s driver safety programs have been,” Schmidt said. “It says we’re working to reach as many drivers as we can.”
In 2013, the Waubonsee Driver Safety Program educated more than 12,000 students in Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties. While many of those students were assigned to participate in various driver safety courses under the terms of court supervision for traffic offenses, many others take part in the safety programs at the recommendation or requirement of employers, insurance companies or parents, Schmidt said.
“Not a week goes by when I don’t get calls from people wanting to take the course to get a reduced rate on their auto insurance, or from parents wanting their teenage drivers to take the ‘Alive At 25’ class,” Schmidt said.
The Waubonsee program employs 15 instructors who last year taught 249 classes at sites throughout the region, including at Waubonsee’s four campuses in Sugar Grove, downtown Aurora, near Rush Copley Medical Center and in Plano; at Judson University and Elgin Community College, in Elgin; Kishwaukee College in DeKalb County; St. Charles East High School and the St. Charles Police Department; and Sycamore Middle School.
This year, the NSC marked the 50th anniversary of such driver safety courses in the U.S.
Waubonsee’s Driver Safety Program has offered driver safety courses since 1992.
