NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Driving is something we have to do several times a day and many times we take it for granted. Here in New Orleans, we’ve got the Victor Manning Driving School, the oldest driving school in the country.
According to co-owner Jon Purvis, “Victor Manning’s been here since 1932, and it is the old. It is absolutely the oldest driving school in the United States.”
They’ve taught generations of young people in New Orleans the rules of the road, and how to navigate them safely; there’s also a healthy dose of adults taking driver’s ed. Victor Manning tries to give them all a practical approach to the laws of driving and more.
“What we try to teach is not just the law, but also the common sense and what people really do,” says Purvis.
Co-owner Jerry Horn says, “distracted driving is one of the main things, for teens and for adults.”
And if you were wondering turn signals and running redlights fall second and third.
“Turn signals, yeah, one of our instructors was saying just the other day that he did like a small survey and he found that 60% of people don’t drive with theirs,” Horn says. “Most people just kinda roll on up to the redlight, and cruise right through, which is illegal.”
The Victor Manning school exists to remind us of what we’ve forgotten about the road. Here in Louisiana we’ve gotten a bad driving reputation.
Purvis says, “Well, I never like to put Louisiana down in any form or fashion, let’s just say we could do a whole lot better definitely we could do a whole lot better, and that’s obviously what we’re trying to achieve here.”