Analysis of public sentiment and perceptions of parent-taught driver education using online comments

• Applies Traffic Sentiment Analysis (TSA) to evaluate driver education policy. • ParentTaught.com users report 83.6% positive sentiment focused on ease of use. • Reddit analysis reveals a latent theme of parental anxiety and teaching stress. • Identifies instructional conflict as a precursor to road chain conflict risks. • Recommends digital support tools to mitigate in-car parental stress. Driver education is critical in preparing teens with the skills and knowledge necessary for safe and independent mobility. While Traditional Driver Education (TDE) provides essential instruction, challenges such as high cost and limited practical training time have led several U.S. states to adopt Parent-Taught Driver Education (PTDE). Despite this legislative expansion, there is a gap in understanding the user experience of families utilizing these programs. To address this, this study evaluates online sentiment and perceived effectiveness of PTDE by analyzing unstructured user feedback through the lens of Traffic Sentiment Analysis (TSA). A mixed-method computational framework integrating VADER sentiment analysis, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), and text network analysis was used to analyze 2,872 comments from Reddit (2015–2024) and ParentTaught.com (2021–2025). The results indicate a positive public sentiment toward PTDE, particularly on the service platform ParentTaught.com (83.6% positive), where users praised the program’s efficiency, convenience, and instructional clarity. Topic modeling revealed that while the primary user experience is characterized by satisfaction with the curriculum’s accessibility, a distinct sub-theme of parental anxiety emerged in community discussions (Reddit), driven by the responsibility of teaching complex safety skills. Text network analysis further identified that while the core PTDE network is cohesive and ease-focused, specific friction points exist regarding administrative logistics. The study concludes that PTDE is a highly regarded educational model that successfully meets family needs, though its effectiveness could be further optimized by providing parents with digital tools to manage the emotional load of in-car instruction.