KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee teens can now take a portion of their driver's license test at home. The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security launched a new online service, "At-Home Knowledge Testing," on Monday.
Teens between 15 years old and 17 years old who want a driver's license are able to take the test online under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian.
For teenagers, getting a driver's license is an exciting time. For parents, it can be a little less exciting. Now that teens can take the written portion of the test at home, some said they are worried about inexperienced drivers on the road.
"I want to make sure that he's prepared for all kinds of situations and make sure that he's ready to drive," Katie Mcmillin said, whose son is getting ready to start driving.
She said he is around a week away from his 16th birthday. Mcmillin said she hopes other parents take the test and their child's safety as seriously as she does.
"It's such a big, big responsibility for a 16-year-old to grasp that a split-second decision can mean life or death," she said.
She takes him to a driving school, Drive 4 Life Academy in Knoxville, to make sure he's prepared to hit the road.
"Not only do they have to drive well, but I also keep trying to get across to him, you have to anticipate other people and if they make a bad decision, how are you going to react to it?" Mcmillin said.
Many people said the state's written driver's test isn't an easy one. The owner of Drive 4 Life Academy, Greg Mangam, said he knows firsthand that it can take lots of studying. He said the state has a database of around 400 questions that they rotate through to create the test.
He also said he isn't thrilled by the idea of an at-home driver's test.
"My initial thought is, it's not a good idea," he said. "They're still going to have to go to the DMV for their picture, they're going to have to go to the DMV for an eye exam so I don't really know if it's going to relieve congestion in a big way."
Mangan thinks 60 minutes to take the test at home is too much time. Since there are 30 multiple choice questions, teens could have up to 2 minutes per question which he said could allow time to look up answers or record questions for future tests.
"I think it would be hard to monitor and it puts a lot of trust in the parental supervision of that test," Mangan said.
After thinking about the new online option for a moment, Mcmillin said she will continue letting her kids test the old-fashioned way.
"I would not be okay, probably, with online testing. It's just too big of a responsibility," Mcmillin said.
The test can be attempted twice online. If the test taker fails both attempts he or she will have to go to a Driver Services Center for future testing.
After 6 months with a learner's permit, an in-person road test is still required to obtain a driver's license along with a minimum of 50 hours of drive time with a licensed adult.
More information about the diver's test can be found on Tennessee's website.