RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — In 2025, hundreds of teenagers will get behind the wheel for the very first time.
15-year-old Olivia Groce is learning from a driving instructor with 45 Fast Traffic School in Rutherford County in hopes to have a license by April.
"I'm really excited to get my license so I can...go out," she said. "[The class] makes me feel a lot safer and that I know what I'm doing."
Barrett Newsome, who owns the driving school, knows the lessons she's learning can make a big difference.
"Your life is in your hands and the hands of other people as well," he said. "[Dangerous] situations we want to make sure that we eliminate. We can't eliminate them completely but we want to do the best we can."
The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security says 16- to 25-year-olds were involved in over 65,000 crashes in 2024, the most of any age group in the state.
Even with potential dangers out there, Olivia's feeling pretty confident in her abilities.
"When I first started driving I was really scared, but as I've kept practicing and stuff, I feel a lot better when I drive," she concluded.
She, like other new drivers in 2025, will need to complete other requirements including classroom time and permit and driving tests before receiving a TN driver's license.
New Tennessee driver's license requirements will also go into effect for some current drivers in early January. Learn more from our previous story.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nikki.hauser@newschannel5.com.
This story by Aaron Cantrell reminds me of my first school in Dyersburg, TN. I was a student at Bruce School from Kindergarten to second grade until the school system was integrated. My parents graduated from this K-12 school in 1960 in one of the city's African American communities. After sitting empty for several years, part of the school was demolished while the rest was renovated and now serves as a community center for the Bruce community in Dyersburg. A local pastor is now trying to do something similar in the Cemetery community in Rutherford Co.
-Lelan Statom
