It's hard for me to say anything about a system overhaul. One of my teens had a GREAT drivers ed class: excellent info and instruction. THe other of my teens had a WORTHLESS drivers ed class: poor information and instruction. Like a lot of education, it all depends on the teacher more than the system.

Having taught driver education in North Carolina for over 38 years, I feel that driver education is needed now more than ever! A system overhaul is too expensive and does not address the one weak link in this
discussion - parent involvement! Parents need to provide the supervision of their teenagers during their "permit" driving period.
The driver education program is the first step in preparing our teenagers to drive in a very dangerous environment! An experienced
driver education instructor working with that nervous teenager is far better than that student playing a "video game" on a stimulator!!

About 90% of the kids that took drivers ed through the high school were in an accident within a year of having their drivers' licenses. As for those of us who took a private driving education course, it took an average of 3-4 years before our first accident. Luckily, I've been driving for 11 years and have yet to have an accident (knock on wood)!

My son's driver education was not as good as I would have liked, but it was an OK start. I found while supervising his driving during the learner's permit stage that there were a number of very basic rules that he had never even heard of. I do like the graduated system of licensing that North Carolina has, and I feel the year with the learner's permit was extremely valuable.
One thing that frightens me is the kids that get very little time driving under their parents' supervision, and then get a license as soon as they are eligible. How a parent could allow that is beyond me. When my son had his permit, he drove pretty much everytime we went anywhere together, and in all kinds of situations. Our household rule was that regardless of whether he was eligible for his license by the state's rules, he would not get his license until WE thought he was ready.
My son was always telling me of friends that rarely got to drive while they had their learner's permit. I realize that allowing a teenager to driver is a frightening experience. But far more frightening to me is allowing a teenager with almost no experience on the road completely unsupervised.
Parents must continue educating their young drivers long after the formal training has ended. As for changes to the public schools driver education, I thing an increase in time on the road would be very valuable. However, it should not be done at the expense of decreasing time in the classroom.  I also don't think we should rely too heavily on simulators.  There are too many kids that think they can drive based solely on doing so in video games.

When my daughter gets to the appropriate age, we will likely use private training, as she is homeschooled.

we were totally confused about what the process is to get my 16 year old a california driver permit...found this great site that outlines it step by step:

http://www.goldenstatedriversed.com/instructions.php

she went ahead and took the drivers education on the same site and was able to learn a few things about the responsibility of driving...she had to do more preparation for the permit test however.