FAIRMONT — Several driver improvement classes for those 55 and older will take place in Fairmont at the end of January.

The classes, to be held at Fairmont Elementary School, will be taught by Phil Bachman. He currently resides in Mankato but lived in Fairmont for three decades. Bachman teaches the classes at nine different sites, including Waseca and Gaylord. He has been teaching them for about 16 years.

“The classes were mandated by the Legislature back in the early ’70s,” he noted. “The idea was that they would mandate auto insurance companies to give you a 10 percent break. They specified that you had to be 55 or older to get into the program but there’s no reason why people that are younger than that couldn’t sign up for it.”

Bachman said those in the class learn about new laws and techniques, and the dangers on the roads we use to travel every day.

“Laws change and cars are changing,” he said. “In the next 10 years there will be more and more electric cars. There will also be a reduction in the number of cars with Uber and Lyft and self-driving autonomous cars available.”

There are no written tests or behind-the-wheel driving in the class. Bachman uses a PowerPoint presentation with a lot of videos. He said there is a lot of discussion, and he encourages questions.

“We leave the driving to the students when they’re 15 and 16,” he said. “But if you consider 15 to age 55, that’s 40 years and a whole lot of things change in that time. It really is very important that people continue their driving education.”

Bachman works for and is supported by the Minnesota Highway Safety and Research Center, which is a part of St. Cloud State University. He said they have found that only one in eight people 55 and older take the classes.

Bachman said the typical class he teaches includes about 20 people. His agency teaches about 35,000 people per year, but the number is not growing

“In a lot of people’s minds, safe driving isn’t high on their priority list and it’s tragic,” Bachman said. “Although Minnesota is very good. Over the years, Minnesota is in the top five safest states to travel in and more recently it’s been in the top two safest.”

Once finished with the class, students receive a certificate that will get them 10 percent off their auto insurance for three years.

An eight-hour class for first-time students will take place from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Jan. 30-31. A four-hour refresher class for repeat students will take place from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Jan. 17.

The cost is $22 for the refresher course and $26 for the first-time course.

To register, visit www.mnsafetycenter.org or contact Fairmont CER at (507) 235-3141.