A free teen driver safety course run by the Fulshear Police Department has passed a major milestone, with Captain Mike McCoy teaching his 8,500th student during a session in Texas on Tuesday, September 22.
The hour-long “Rookie Responders” class is designed to help young and inexperienced motorists avoid distracted driving and understand what to do during a traffic stop. Dozens of teenagers and parents attended the latest session at Fulshear City Hall.
McCoy began the programme after meeting a newly licensed 16-year-old at a local barbecue restaurant. When he asked the teenager whether he knew how to respond if stopped by police, the answer was no.
“I asked him, ‘Do you know what happens when you get pulled over by the police?’” McCoy recalled. “He said, ‘No sir, they didn’t teach me that.’ Then I asked if he knew about distracted driving, and he said no to that, too.”
The exchange prompted the captain to establish a regular community course covering traffic-stop procedures, Texas road laws and the risks posed by mobile phones and other in-car technology.
Fulshear teen driving course focuses on distraction
National figures underline the dangers addressed by the class. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says distracted driving was linked to 3,208 deaths and 315,167 injuries in 2024.
McCoy told students that taking their eyes off the road for five seconds to read or send a message while travelling at 55mph was equivalent to driving the length of a football field without looking.
“The worst thing a police officer can do is give a death notification,” he said. “There’s nothing worse than telling a parent that their child has been killed in a car wreck because of their phone. It doesn’t have to happen.”
The captain also warned that the true scale of phone-related collisions can be difficult to establish because drivers do not always admit using a device after a crash.
Among those attending was 15-year-old Diego Basterra, who had not yet obtained his driving permit. He said phone use had become a persistent source of distraction among young people and hoped the course would make the prospect of being stopped by police less intimidating.
“I hope my nervousness of getting pulled over stays here, and then it’s just like an easy process if I do get pulled over,” he said.
Teresa Russell brought her 15-year-old son, Jake, to reinforce safe habits before he began driving regularly. She said school zones, cyclists and children on scooters were among her biggest concerns.
During the session, students were told to signal and move to a safe, well-lit location when possible, keep their hands visible on the steering wheel and explain before reaching for documents in a glove box or centre console.
They were also reminded of Texas’s Move Over or Slow Down law. Drivers approaching emergency or other designated roadside vehicles with flashing lights must change lane where it is safe or reduce their speed by 20mph below the posted limit.
Fulshear Police holds the free Rookie Responders class approximately once a month and welcomes families from outside the city. Details of future sessions are published through the department’s app and Facebook page.
