Driving Safety: Providers

All driving safety schools & instructors must be licensed by the State of New Mexico as per the NMAC.

First-time licensees are required to apply with the following forms:

• ORIGINAL APPLICATION: SCHOOL
• ORIGINAL APPLICATION: INSTRUCTOR
  • DPS Form
  • MVD Request for Limited Driving History
  • Health Certificate

New instructors must also complete a Bureau sponsored or approved Instructor Training Course designed to teach instructional strategies, classroom management, or acquisition of teaching competencies in order to obtain licensure: TRAINING CALENDAR

Licenses must be renewed each year. Renewals are applied for with the following forms: 

• RENEWAL APPLICATION: SCHOOL
  • School Renewal Variance
• RENEWAL APPLICATION: INSTRUCTOR
  • DPS Form
  • MVD Request for Limited Driving History
  • Health Certificate
  • DSS DPS/CEU/Health Certificate Variance

Quarterly Reports

The licensing year for driving safety begins in November & ends in October of the following year. All private providers of driver education are required to submit reports to Traffic Safety Center each quarter on the following schedule:

                          November-January Reports- February 10^th

                                February-April Reports- May 10^th

                                May-July Reports- August 10^th

                                August-October Reports- November 10^th

If your school did not conduct any classes during the quarter, please inform Traffic Safety Center so your school’s files remain up to date: DSS-Quarterly-form

Certificates

Certificates of Completion must be ordered from Traffic Safety Center by private driving safety providers. Certificate eligibility will be determined by the number of completions reported in the previous quarter.

Please be aware that verifying numbers takes time. Please allow up to one full week (5 business days) for the Traffic Safety Center (TSC) staff to review your order & up to two weeks for shipping depending on where you are posting your mail from. MATERIAL ORDER FORM-A

Monitoring

The Traffic Safety Center (TSC) is obligated to monitor all driving safety providers under the NMAC 18.20.8.15 (A) TSC “Shall conduct periodic evaluations of driving safety schools using the criteria developed by the Bureau…”

Please keep the TSC up-to-date on your planned classroom schedules so such monitoring can by conducted with minimal interference.  

Curriculum

First-time licensees are required to submit curriculum for approval to our office. Curriculum can be individually prepared by the owner/operator of the school, or you may choose to utilize curriculum pre-approved by the Traffic Safety Center. Please find a list of approved Driver Education curriculum options listed below:

• National Safety Council: The Defensive Driving Course
• AAA: Driver Improvement