The license of any driver training school or instructor may be suspended, revoked, denied, or refused renewal, or such other disciplinary action authorized under RCW 18.235.110 may be imposed, for failure to comply with the business practices specified in this section.
(1) No place of business shall be established nor any business of a driver training school conducted or solicited within one thousand feet of an office or building owned or leased by the department of licensing in which examinations for drivers' licenses are conducted. The distance of one thousand feet shall be measured along the public streets by the nearest route from the place of business to such building.
(2) Any automobile used by a driver training school or an instructor for instruction purposes must be equipped with:
(a) Dual controls for foot brake and clutch, or foot brake only in a vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission;
(b) An instructor's rear view mirror; and
(c) A sign in legible, printed English letters displayed on the back or top, or both, of the vehicle that:
(i) Is not less than twenty inches in horizontal width or less than ten inches in vertical height;
(ii) Has the words "student driver," "instruction car," or "driving school" in letters at least two and one-half inches in height near the top;
(iii) Has the name and telephone number of the school in similarly legible letters not less than one inch in height placed somewhere below the aforementioned words;
(iv) Has lettering and background colors that make it clearly readable at one hundred feet in clear daylight;
(v) Is displayed at all times when instruction is being given.
(3) Instruction may not be given by an instructor to a student who is under the age of fifteen, and behind-the-wheel instruction may not be given by an instructor to a student in an automobile unless the student possesses a current and valid instruction permit issued pursuant to RCW 46.20.055 or a current and valid driver's license.
(4) No driver training school or instructor shall advertise or otherwise indicate that the issuance of a driver's license is guaranteed or assured as a result of the course of instruction offered.
(5) No driver training school or instructor shall utilize any types of advertising without using the full, legal name of the school and identifying itself as a driver training school. Instruction vehicles and equipment, classrooms, driving simulators, training materials and services advertised must be available in a manner as might be expected by the average person reading the advertisement.
(6) A driver training school shall have an established place of business owned, rented, or leased by the school and regularly occupied and used exclusively for the business of giving driver instruction. The established place of business of a driver training school shall be located in a district that is zoned for business or commercial purposes or zoned for conditional use permits for schools, trade schools, or colleges. However, the use of public or private schools does not alleviate the driver training school from securing and maintaining an established place of business or from using its own classroom on a regular basis as required under this chapter.
(a) The established place of business, branch office, or classroom or advertised address of any such driver training school shall not consist of or include a house trailer, residence, tent, temporary stand, temporary address, bus, telephone answering service if such service is the sole means of contacting the driver training school, a room or rooms in a hotel or rooming house or apartment house, or premises occupied by a single or multiple-unit dwelling house.
(b) A driver training school may lease classroom space within a public or private school that is recognized and regulated by the office of the superintendent of public instruction to conduct student instruction as approved by the director. However, such use of public or private classroom space does not alleviate the driver training school from securing and maintaining an established place of business nor from using its own classroom on a regular basis as required by this chapter.
(c) To classify as a branch office or classroom the facility must be within a thirty-five mile radius of the established place of business. The department may waive or extend the thirty-five mile restriction for driver training schools located in counties below the median population density.
(d) Nothing in this subsection may be construed as limiting the authority of local governments to grant conditional use permits or variances from zoning ordinances.
(7) No driver training school or instructor shall conduct any type of instruction or training on a course used by the department of licensing for testing applicants for a Washington driver's license.
(8) Each driver training school shall maintain its student, instructor, vehicle, insurance, and operating records at its established place of business.
(a) Student records must include the student's name, address, and telephone number, date of enrollment and all dates of instruction, the student's instruction permit or driver's license number, the type of training given, the total number of hours of instruction, and the name and signature of the instructor or instructors.
(b) Vehicle records shall include the original insurance policies and copies of the vehicle registration for all instruction vehicles.
(c) Student and instructor records shall be maintained for three years following the completion of the instruction. Vehicle records shall be maintained for five years following their issuance. All records shall be made available for inspection upon the request of the department.
(d) Upon a transfer or sale of school ownership the school records shall be transferred to and become the property and responsibility of the new owner.
(9) Each driver training school shall, at its established place of business, display, in a place where it can be seen by all clients, a copy of the required curriculum furnished by the department. Copies of the required curriculum are to be provided to driver training schools and instructors by the director.
(10) Driver training schools and instructors shall submit to periodic inspections of their business practices, facilities, records, and insurance by authorized representatives of the director of the department of licensing.
[ 2017 c 197 § 11; 2009 c 101 § 7; 2006 c 219 § 10; 1989 c 337 § 19; 1979 ex.s. c 51 § 9.]
NOTES:
Findings—Intent—Effective date—2017 c 197: See notes following RCW 28A.220.020.
Effective date—2006 c 219: See note following RCW 46.82.285.