(a) The State Department of Education shall adopt rules and regulations requiring all automobile driver training vehicles to be fitted with instrumentation providing instructional information on fuel consumption and vehicle fuel efficiency such as fuel efficiency meters or computerized fuel equipment.

(b) The department shall conduct workshops to provide in-service training to automobile driver training instructors on fuel-efficient driving which shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following instructional techniques:

(1) Minimization of braking.

(2) Brisk acceleration to high gear.

(3) Methods to emphasize deceleration modes.

(4) Reduce idling.

(5) Methods to anticipate stops and to maintain safe distances between vehicles.

(6) The use of momentum and gravity to save fuel.

(7) Driving at the most fuel-efficient and safe speeds.

(8) Smooth steering, turning, acceleration, and braking.

(9) The use of fuel-efficient driving instrumentation to remind drivers of methods for fuel-efficient driving.

(c) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall review claims submitted by school districts for reimbursement for the costs of fitting automobile driver training vehicles with instrumentation providing information on fuel consumption and vehicle fuel efficiency required by subdivision (a) and may approve claims for reimbursement up to three hundred dollars ($300) per vehicle for the installation of this equipment, including parts and labor. The superintendent may approve claims for reimbursement for the transfer of equipment from one vehicle to another at the reimbursement rates authorized for the replacement of automobile driver training vehicles and simulators. Allowances made to school districts under this subdivision during the first year that the program is in operation shall be allocated by the superintendent from the Petroleum Violation Escrow Account. Allowances made to school districts under this subdivision in subsequent years shall be allocated by the superintendent from the Driver Training Penalty Assessment Fund.

(Added by Stats. 1986, Ch. 1339, Sec. 4.)