A
license to live
By Marietta Homayonpour
THE NEWS-TIMES
July 23, 2000
By Marietta Homayonpour
THE NEWS-TIMES
July 23, 2000
Valerie Magee, 16, of Redding struggles to release the parking brake
during a driving lesson taught by Jack Sousa of Sears Authorized Driving
School.
Graduated
licenses help reduce the risk
by restricting when teen-agers may drive
by restricting when teen-agers may drive
Mary Skelly
wants more limits set on teen-age drivers.
When she makes her pitch, she doesn't mention that car crashes are the top killer of Americans ages 15 to 20. She doesn't mention that 16-year-old drivers crash 10 times more often than those in the 30 to 59 ages group.
To Skelly, of Brookfield, it's not a simple matter of statistics. It's a matter of flesh and blood.
Two years ago, her nephew was one of two passengers in a pickup driven by a 17-year-old racing in North Carolina. The driver "was racing another kid" and lost control, Skelly said. The truck flew through the air and landed on a wood pile. Skelly's 16-year-old nephew was killed.
Linda Mitten, another Brookfield mother, also draws on personal experience to argue for stricter driving laws for teens. When she was at a small high school in New York state, she watched a classmate who had been in an accident struggle to get used to an artificial leg.
He was more fortunate than some. Mitten said she went to far too many wakes for teen accident victims.
Mitten was among the parents who attended a May forum in Brookfield on teen driving habits. They made their pitch for more restrictive driving laws just weeks before 17-year-old John Ktorides, a popular New Fairfield High School wrestler, was killed on a Friday night when his car skidded on slick roads and hit a pole.
"Many states are stricter than us," said Mitten. "I would like to see restrictions at night and restrictions on the amount of kids in a car."
It appears as if the momentum is in their favor:
• The state Department of Motor Vehicles is considering new restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds. Among them are limits on night driving and the number of passengers teen drivers could transport.
• Lawmakers say that in the next session of the General Assembly they likely will consider legislation that requires 16- and 17-year-olds to put in road hours with an experienced driver before they can get a full license. In this year's session, such a bill passed the Senate but was not taken up by the House.
• At least 26 states have more limits on teens than Connecticut. In Florida, which added restrictions in 1997 that include limits on night driving, there has been a 9 percent decrease in crashed involving 15-to 17-year-olds that left someone injured, according to the Insurance institute for Highway Safety in Virginia.
• In 1997, Connecticut put modest restrictions on novice drivers. For the first six months they drive, 16- and 17-year olds must use a learner's permit that allows them to drive only with an adult in the car. After that, they may take a test to get a full license. Since the permits were mandated, crashes by 16-year-old drivers have dropped 22 percent, said David Preusser, head of a highway safety research organization in Trumbull.
Jack Sousa, who runs several Sears Authorized Driving Schools in the region, has been giving lessons for 25 years. It's his experience that teenagers have much better eyesight than the over-40 crowd and sharper reaction time.
In fact, there's no one who Sousa enjoys teaching more than 16- and 17-year olds.
"The only factor is the inexperience problem, and it's a huge problem," he said.
"Experience" is the word used over and over by legislators, police, parents, driving school instructors and DMV officials when asked what would make 16- and 17-year-olds safer and better drivers.
And so the purpose of any new rules, proponents say, is to let teens gain that experience as safely as possible.
"There are many instances where inexperienced drivers have caused tragedies," said Sgt. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police. "It's tragic to knock on a parent's door to say your new, young driver is dead."
When she makes her pitch, she doesn't mention that car crashes are the top killer of Americans ages 15 to 20. She doesn't mention that 16-year-old drivers crash 10 times more often than those in the 30 to 59 ages group.
To Skelly, of Brookfield, it's not a simple matter of statistics. It's a matter of flesh and blood.
Two years ago, her nephew was one of two passengers in a pickup driven by a 17-year-old racing in North Carolina. The driver "was racing another kid" and lost control, Skelly said. The truck flew through the air and landed on a wood pile. Skelly's 16-year-old nephew was killed.
Linda Mitten, another Brookfield mother, also draws on personal experience to argue for stricter driving laws for teens. When she was at a small high school in New York state, she watched a classmate who had been in an accident struggle to get used to an artificial leg.
He was more fortunate than some. Mitten said she went to far too many wakes for teen accident victims.
Mitten was among the parents who attended a May forum in Brookfield on teen driving habits. They made their pitch for more restrictive driving laws just weeks before 17-year-old John Ktorides, a popular New Fairfield High School wrestler, was killed on a Friday night when his car skidded on slick roads and hit a pole.
"Many states are stricter than us," said Mitten. "I would like to see restrictions at night and restrictions on the amount of kids in a car."
It appears as if the momentum is in their favor:
• The state Department of Motor Vehicles is considering new restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds. Among them are limits on night driving and the number of passengers teen drivers could transport.
• Lawmakers say that in the next session of the General Assembly they likely will consider legislation that requires 16- and 17-year-olds to put in road hours with an experienced driver before they can get a full license. In this year's session, such a bill passed the Senate but was not taken up by the House.
• At least 26 states have more limits on teens than Connecticut. In Florida, which added restrictions in 1997 that include limits on night driving, there has been a 9 percent decrease in crashed involving 15-to 17-year-olds that left someone injured, according to the Insurance institute for Highway Safety in Virginia.
• In 1997, Connecticut put modest restrictions on novice drivers. For the first six months they drive, 16- and 17-year olds must use a learner's permit that allows them to drive only with an adult in the car. After that, they may take a test to get a full license. Since the permits were mandated, crashes by 16-year-old drivers have dropped 22 percent, said David Preusser, head of a highway safety research organization in Trumbull.
Jack Sousa, who runs several Sears Authorized Driving Schools in the region, has been giving lessons for 25 years. It's his experience that teenagers have much better eyesight than the over-40 crowd and sharper reaction time.
In fact, there's no one who Sousa enjoys teaching more than 16- and 17-year olds.
"The only factor is the inexperience problem, and it's a huge problem," he said.
"Experience" is the word used over and over by legislators, police, parents, driving school instructors and DMV officials when asked what would make 16- and 17-year-olds safer and better drivers.
And so the purpose of any new rules, proponents say, is to let teens gain that experience as safely as possible.
"There are many instances where inexperienced drivers have caused tragedies," said Sgt. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police. "It's tragic to knock on a parent's door to say your new, young driver is dead."
And so the purpose
of any new rules, proponents say, is to let teens gain that experience as
safely as possible.
"There are many instances where inexperienced drivers have caused tragedies," said Sgt. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police. "It's tragic to knock on a parent's door to say your new, young driver is dead." The answer, according to many officials, is something called a graduated licensing system. The strategy is to expose new drivers in steps to more risky situations.
Full graduated licensing involves three stages. The first provides a pre-licensing phase in which the teen must meet certain requirements, such as holding a learner's permit, before taking a driving test. The second phase involves restrictions, such as no night driving and limits on the number of passengers. The last phase grants full license privileges.
Most Connecticut teens don't think much of the current learner's permit regulations, much less proposals for added restrictions. They can't wait to get behind the wheel to go to school, or their jobs, to a concert or the mall.
"I can understand the law," said Jessica Birch, 16, of Redding. "But it's not like you want to wait. You want to do stuff."
Valerie Magee, also 16 and from Redding, doesn't believe laws should be enacted that restrict them at night or limit the number of passengers they may have in a car.
"It isn't necessary," says Magee. Yet, when pressed, Magee, Birch and other teens who take classes with Sousa at Joel Barlow High School in Redding agreed that good driving comes with experience.
"It's scary at first when a car is coming toward you," 16-year-old John Rogers of Easton said of his early driving lessons. "Now it's not as frightening."
Rogers adds: "Everyone is a beginner at one point. So give us a break."
But the trend is more toward putting the brakes on unrestricted teen driving. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that 26 states have three-stage graduated licensing systems. Several states require 16- and 17-year-olds to have a minimum amount - ranging from 12 to 50 hours - of driving time with adults before they take a driving test.
In California, where three-phase graduated licensing began in July 1998, 16- and 17-year-olds must have 50 hours of supervised driving time, 10 of which must be at night, to get a license.
"Teen-age driving accidents are a product of inexperience or poor judgment - generally inexperience," said Evan Nossoff, information officer for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. "The 50-hour requirement is designed to give supervised driving experience in an environment where they (teen-agers) are likely to drive carefully." In California, 16- and 17-year-old teens may not drive between midnight and 5 a.m. in the first year after they get their licenses. Statistically, night driving is much riskier for teens than daylight driving. A number of states put time restrictions on novice drivers; some keep them off the road from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m.
Restriction on the number of passengers that a new 16- or 17-year-old driver may have in the car varies. California, for example, allows no passengers under 20 years old for the first six months. Georgia allows no more than three passengers under 21, except for family members.
Passengers are limited because, the theory goes, teen-agers are easily distracted by friends or are tempted to do something unsafe because of a dare. Statistics show teen drivers crash more often when they have teen passengers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
In California, officials said the graduated licensing law is still too new to gauge whether it decreased the teen accident rates.
But in Florida, the decline is documented. In addition to starting a graduated licensing
"There are many instances where inexperienced drivers have caused tragedies," said Sgt. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police. "It's tragic to knock on a parent's door to say your new, young driver is dead." The answer, according to many officials, is something called a graduated licensing system. The strategy is to expose new drivers in steps to more risky situations.
Full graduated licensing involves three stages. The first provides a pre-licensing phase in which the teen must meet certain requirements, such as holding a learner's permit, before taking a driving test. The second phase involves restrictions, such as no night driving and limits on the number of passengers. The last phase grants full license privileges.
Most Connecticut teens don't think much of the current learner's permit regulations, much less proposals for added restrictions. They can't wait to get behind the wheel to go to school, or their jobs, to a concert or the mall.
"I can understand the law," said Jessica Birch, 16, of Redding. "But it's not like you want to wait. You want to do stuff."
Valerie Magee, also 16 and from Redding, doesn't believe laws should be enacted that restrict them at night or limit the number of passengers they may have in a car.
"It isn't necessary," says Magee. Yet, when pressed, Magee, Birch and other teens who take classes with Sousa at Joel Barlow High School in Redding agreed that good driving comes with experience.
"It's scary at first when a car is coming toward you," 16-year-old John Rogers of Easton said of his early driving lessons. "Now it's not as frightening."
Rogers adds: "Everyone is a beginner at one point. So give us a break."
But the trend is more toward putting the brakes on unrestricted teen driving. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that 26 states have three-stage graduated licensing systems. Several states require 16- and 17-year-olds to have a minimum amount - ranging from 12 to 50 hours - of driving time with adults before they take a driving test.
In California, where three-phase graduated licensing began in July 1998, 16- and 17-year-olds must have 50 hours of supervised driving time, 10 of which must be at night, to get a license.
"Teen-age driving accidents are a product of inexperience or poor judgment - generally inexperience," said Evan Nossoff, information officer for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. "The 50-hour requirement is designed to give supervised driving experience in an environment where they (teen-agers) are likely to drive carefully." In California, 16- and 17-year-old teens may not drive between midnight and 5 a.m. in the first year after they get their licenses. Statistically, night driving is much riskier for teens than daylight driving. A number of states put time restrictions on novice drivers; some keep them off the road from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m.
Restriction on the number of passengers that a new 16- or 17-year-old driver may have in the car varies. California, for example, allows no passengers under 20 years old for the first six months. Georgia allows no more than three passengers under 21, except for family members.
Passengers are limited because, the theory goes, teen-agers are easily distracted by friends or are tempted to do something unsafe because of a dare. Statistics show teen drivers crash more often when they have teen passengers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
In California, officials said the graduated licensing law is still too new to gauge whether it decreased the teen accident rates.
But in Florida, the decline is documented. In addition to starting a graduated licensing
system, the state made it an
offense for 16- and 17-year-old drivers to have even a trace of alcohol in
their systems. And the state adopted a system in which young drivers who commit
traffic violations may lose their licenses faster than adult
drivers. Florida's graduated licensing law will get tougher
Oct. 1, said Terri Ganson, public information director for Florida's Division
of Driver Licenses. Though the minimum age for getting a learner's
permit will remain 15, that permit must be held for one year instead of six
months. And 50 hours of driving with an adult will be required, 10 of them at
night, before a beginning young driver may get a license.
"We're trying to get the parents more involved," Ganson said about the 50-hour requirement. When a 16- or 17-year-old applies for a license, a parent or guardian will have to sign an affidavit asserting that the teen-ager has those 50 hours under his or her belt.
"Laws can do only so much. Parental responsibility is the key to this," said Ganson. Barbara Sikorski takes that responsibility seriously.
The Brookfield mom imposed her own form of graduated licensing when she forbade her 16-year-old daughter from carrying teen passengers for the first six months after she got her license.
Additionally, Sikorski told her daughter not to ride with another teen who has had a license for less than six months.
It's not easy to enforce such rules, she said.
"If there was legislation on graduated licensing, I wouldn't look like the bad guy," she said.
Other public safety experts, such as Brookfield Youth Officer Gary Gramling, encourage parents to set their own rules for teen drivers. But mothers and fathers may soon have state law on their side.
State Sen. Biagio Ciotto, D-Wethersfield, co-chairman of the legislature's Transportation Committee, backed a bill that would have required 16- and 17-year-olds to spend 30 hours on the road with adult supervision before applying for a license. Though 16-year-olds must now use a learner's permit for six months, there is no minimum supervised road time in Connecticut.
The 30-hour bill passed unanimously in the Senate but was never taken up in the House during the short legislative session. But, Ciotto said, "the issue will not go away. It will resurface in the next session.
"Anything we can do to improve the skills of these kids will be a plus," said Ciotto. "We're not doing this to punish kids. It's to make them better qualified drivers."
Bill Seymour, public relations director for the state Department of Motor Vehicles, said DMV officials are looking at several ways to reduce accidents caused by young drivers. One idea is to allow novice drivers to carry no more than one passenger.
"The more passengers there are in the car, the more likelihood for confusion of the driver, illegal activities or not using common sense," Seymour said. "And when there's a serious accident, the more there are in the car, the more lives could be taken."
Though there may be differences on how to address the problem, there seems to be widespread agreement that something needs to be done to protect teen drivers from themselves.
Even the manager of a fast food restaurant thought placing more restrictions for 16- and 17-year-old drivers was a good idea, even if they meant fewer teen-agers could work there.
Edna Hoffman, who manages a Danbury Burger King, said she worries about some of the teen customers.
"It's scary," she said. "There are four or five in a car and they come rushing through. They even come in winter storms when adults shouldn't be out."
"We're trying to get the parents more involved," Ganson said about the 50-hour requirement. When a 16- or 17-year-old applies for a license, a parent or guardian will have to sign an affidavit asserting that the teen-ager has those 50 hours under his or her belt.
"Laws can do only so much. Parental responsibility is the key to this," said Ganson. Barbara Sikorski takes that responsibility seriously.
The Brookfield mom imposed her own form of graduated licensing when she forbade her 16-year-old daughter from carrying teen passengers for the first six months after she got her license.
Additionally, Sikorski told her daughter not to ride with another teen who has had a license for less than six months.
It's not easy to enforce such rules, she said.
"If there was legislation on graduated licensing, I wouldn't look like the bad guy," she said.
Other public safety experts, such as Brookfield Youth Officer Gary Gramling, encourage parents to set their own rules for teen drivers. But mothers and fathers may soon have state law on their side.
State Sen. Biagio Ciotto, D-Wethersfield, co-chairman of the legislature's Transportation Committee, backed a bill that would have required 16- and 17-year-olds to spend 30 hours on the road with adult supervision before applying for a license. Though 16-year-olds must now use a learner's permit for six months, there is no minimum supervised road time in Connecticut.
The 30-hour bill passed unanimously in the Senate but was never taken up in the House during the short legislative session. But, Ciotto said, "the issue will not go away. It will resurface in the next session.
"Anything we can do to improve the skills of these kids will be a plus," said Ciotto. "We're not doing this to punish kids. It's to make them better qualified drivers."
Bill Seymour, public relations director for the state Department of Motor Vehicles, said DMV officials are looking at several ways to reduce accidents caused by young drivers. One idea is to allow novice drivers to carry no more than one passenger.
"The more passengers there are in the car, the more likelihood for confusion of the driver, illegal activities or not using common sense," Seymour said. "And when there's a serious accident, the more there are in the car, the more lives could be taken."
Though there may be differences on how to address the problem, there seems to be widespread agreement that something needs to be done to protect teen drivers from themselves.
Even the manager of a fast food restaurant thought placing more restrictions for 16- and 17-year-old drivers was a good idea, even if they meant fewer teen-agers could work there.
Edna Hoffman, who manages a Danbury Burger King, said she worries about some of the teen customers.
"It's scary," she said. "There are four or five in a car and they come rushing through. They even come in winter storms when adults shouldn't be out."
