Teen
Safety Drives Plan
By Stephanie Reitz
COURANT STAFF WRITER
By Stephanie Reitz
COURANT STAFF WRITER
Lawmaker
Wants To Phase
In License Privileges
In License Privileges
West Hartford
mother Linda Jones is struggling with an issue familiar to many parents.
Her son Patrick turned 16 in January and, any day now, he's likely to ask her for permission to get his driver's license.
Johns has a lot to consider: whether Patrick is ready for the responsibility, if it would be fair to restrict his driving when his brother and friends already are licensed - and, most important, whether he will be safe behind the wheel.
"I'm extremely torn," she said.
Connecticut's teenage drivers theoretically are better trained than ever, thanks to a law that requires them to hold a learner's permit before receiving their licenses.
Yet, despite the training, teenage drivers in Connecticut are still dying in disturbing numbers.
Of the more than 100 drivers aged 18 and younger who have died since 1994, 77 have lost their lives since the learner's permit requirement went into effect on Jan. 1, 1997.
Hoping to reduce those numbers, proponents are renewing a push for graduated licensing, which phases in certain privileges as teenagers build experience behind the wheel.
State Rep. David Scribner, R-Brookfield, is reintroducing three such measures in this year's legislative session, which started Wednesday.
One proposal would increase on-the-road training for new drivers from eight to 12 hours, with two of those hours after dark. Another proposal would limit newly licensed teenagers from driving between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., except with a parent's permission or for work-and school-related travel.
A third proposal would allow only one passenger in a teenage driver's vehicle for their first six months of driving.
"I understand and appreciate that sense of joy and independence when a teenager gets their license, and I'm not trying to take that away from the kids," Scribner said. "This is not intended to be punitive; it's intended to be protective."
From 1994 through 2000, 86 teenage drivers died in collisions in Connecticut, according to records from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In addition to those 8, preliminary state figures show that at least 15 more teenage drivers were killed in 2001.
Her son Patrick turned 16 in January and, any day now, he's likely to ask her for permission to get his driver's license.
Johns has a lot to consider: whether Patrick is ready for the responsibility, if it would be fair to restrict his driving when his brother and friends already are licensed - and, most important, whether he will be safe behind the wheel.
"I'm extremely torn," she said.
Connecticut's teenage drivers theoretically are better trained than ever, thanks to a law that requires them to hold a learner's permit before receiving their licenses.
Yet, despite the training, teenage drivers in Connecticut are still dying in disturbing numbers.
Of the more than 100 drivers aged 18 and younger who have died since 1994, 77 have lost their lives since the learner's permit requirement went into effect on Jan. 1, 1997.
Hoping to reduce those numbers, proponents are renewing a push for graduated licensing, which phases in certain privileges as teenagers build experience behind the wheel.
State Rep. David Scribner, R-Brookfield, is reintroducing three such measures in this year's legislative session, which started Wednesday.
One proposal would increase on-the-road training for new drivers from eight to 12 hours, with two of those hours after dark. Another proposal would limit newly licensed teenagers from driving between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., except with a parent's permission or for work-and school-related travel.
A third proposal would allow only one passenger in a teenage driver's vehicle for their first six months of driving.
"I understand and appreciate that sense of joy and independence when a teenager gets their license, and I'm not trying to take that away from the kids," Scribner said. "This is not intended to be punitive; it's intended to be protective."
From 1994 through 2000, 86 teenage drivers died in collisions in Connecticut, according to records from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In addition to those 8, preliminary state figures show that at least 15 more teenage drivers were killed in 2001.
The 2001 tally
is expected to reach 20, because the state Department of Transportation has
unofficial reports of five more deaths that will be added to the total when
police submit certain records.
The National
Highway Transportation Safety Administration says the nationwide fatality rate
for teenagers, based on annual estimated miles traveled, is four times higher
than the rate for drivers aged 25 through 69.
Similar statistics based on vehicle miles traveled by Connecticut teenage drivers are not available. That makes it difficult to quantify whether the increase in deaths might be caused by changes in Connecticut teens' driving habits, or whether they are driving more and therefore exposed to more risk.
One fact is undeniable, however: More teenagers are getting permits than ever before, with twice the number of permits issued in 2000-01 than just two years earlier.
A teenager can apply for a learner's permit upon reaching his or her 16th birthday. Connecticut requires a four-month permit for teenagers trained at a driver's education school or state-approved program, and a six-month permit for teenagers taught at home.
Under the permit, the teen can drive only with a licensed driver who is at least 20 years old and has been licensed for at least four consecutive years. The teens also cannot drive on highways until they have had the permit for at least 60 days.
Jack Sousa, president of the Driving Schools Association of Connecticut, said he believes that the most immediate safety improvements would come by limiting passengers for novice teen drivers.
"My feeling is that (graduated licensing) should be a priority . When young lives are jeopardized, it becomes everybody's business," said Sousa, who runs the Sears Authorized Driving Schools and the Academy of Driving in Waterbury.
Last fall, the AAA Automobile Club of Hartford introduced an intensive driving class specifically for teenagers, using curriculum created by researching the rookie mistakes that caused more than 2,000 teen crashes.
The voluntary class includes 10 hours of in-car training, small classes, parental involvement, and lessons especially designed to help novices recognize everyday dangers such as black ice, banked curves and similar hazards.
"The problem with teenage drivers is that they have excellent hearing, vision and other skills needed to drive, but they don't have the risk-management skills," said Robert Ouellette, director of the driver education school at the AAA office in West Hartford.
Ouellette and several other instructors cited a particularly important factor in teenager's driving skills: whether their parents set aside time to ride along as those teens practice.
Similar statistics based on vehicle miles traveled by Connecticut teenage drivers are not available. That makes it difficult to quantify whether the increase in deaths might be caused by changes in Connecticut teens' driving habits, or whether they are driving more and therefore exposed to more risk.
One fact is undeniable, however: More teenagers are getting permits than ever before, with twice the number of permits issued in 2000-01 than just two years earlier.
A teenager can apply for a learner's permit upon reaching his or her 16th birthday. Connecticut requires a four-month permit for teenagers trained at a driver's education school or state-approved program, and a six-month permit for teenagers taught at home.
Under the permit, the teen can drive only with a licensed driver who is at least 20 years old and has been licensed for at least four consecutive years. The teens also cannot drive on highways until they have had the permit for at least 60 days.
Jack Sousa, president of the Driving Schools Association of Connecticut, said he believes that the most immediate safety improvements would come by limiting passengers for novice teen drivers.
"My feeling is that (graduated licensing) should be a priority . When young lives are jeopardized, it becomes everybody's business," said Sousa, who runs the Sears Authorized Driving Schools and the Academy of Driving in Waterbury.
Last fall, the AAA Automobile Club of Hartford introduced an intensive driving class specifically for teenagers, using curriculum created by researching the rookie mistakes that caused more than 2,000 teen crashes.
The voluntary class includes 10 hours of in-car training, small classes, parental involvement, and lessons especially designed to help novices recognize everyday dangers such as black ice, banked curves and similar hazards.
"The problem with teenage drivers is that they have excellent hearing, vision and other skills needed to drive, but they don't have the risk-management skills," said Robert Ouellette, director of the driver education school at the AAA office in West Hartford.
Ouellette and several other instructors cited a particularly important factor in teenager's driving skills: whether their parents set aside time to ride along as those teens practice.
"You can tell
immediately when a teenager gets in the car whether they've had the opportunity
to practice or not," he said.
Karl Schilling, a Canton High School student who hopes to get his learner's permit when he turns 16 in August, said he believes that the graduated licensing restrictions "wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."
Karl Schilling, a Canton High School student who hopes to get his learner's permit when he turns 16 in August, said he believes that the graduated licensing restrictions "wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."
But, he said,
they might not be necessary in families where parents already set rules for
their teenage drivers.
"Personally, I feel I'd be able to handle driving OK at night," he said. "I'm not sure that cutting the number of people in the car would make a difference, though, and I'm not sure how they would enforce that."
Several parents have made the same point, wondering whether police officers have the time and inclination to pull over teenagers to check which stage of their graduated licensing is in effect.
Linda Johns, the West Hartford mother, thinks that limiting teens' overnight driving is probably a good idea.
Her older son, 18-year-old Corey, voluntarily comes home from work or social events before 11 p.m. He was licensed at 16 and now drives several friends to school in the family's sever-passenger van.
Like many parents, she know that graduated licensing would affect her own driving schedule.
"If my 18-year-old son could only have one person in the vehicle, then I'd be driving the other (son). There's a convenience factor," Johns said.
Full graduated licensing - with learner's permits and the other limits Scribner is proposing - is already used in 34 states and the District of Columbia.
Recent studies in Florida, Ontario and New Zealand all cited decreases in teenage drivers' deaths after they adopted full graduated licensing. In Florida, for instance, teens' deaths in traffic dropped 9 percent in 1997, the state's first year of graduated licensing.
The idea has been proposed several times in Connecticut, including as recently as the 2001 legislative session.
Scribner's proposal last year to restrict teenagers from driving overnight was approved last year in the Senate, but the House of Representatives never took it up for a vote.
The legislature's transportation committee is scheduled to introduce the graduated licensing issue today and set a public hearing date this month on the topic.
"Personally, I feel I'd be able to handle driving OK at night," he said. "I'm not sure that cutting the number of people in the car would make a difference, though, and I'm not sure how they would enforce that."
Several parents have made the same point, wondering whether police officers have the time and inclination to pull over teenagers to check which stage of their graduated licensing is in effect.
Linda Johns, the West Hartford mother, thinks that limiting teens' overnight driving is probably a good idea.
Her older son, 18-year-old Corey, voluntarily comes home from work or social events before 11 p.m. He was licensed at 16 and now drives several friends to school in the family's sever-passenger van.
Like many parents, she know that graduated licensing would affect her own driving schedule.
"If my 18-year-old son could only have one person in the vehicle, then I'd be driving the other (son). There's a convenience factor," Johns said.
Full graduated licensing - with learner's permits and the other limits Scribner is proposing - is already used in 34 states and the District of Columbia.
Recent studies in Florida, Ontario and New Zealand all cited decreases in teenage drivers' deaths after they adopted full graduated licensing. In Florida, for instance, teens' deaths in traffic dropped 9 percent in 1997, the state's first year of graduated licensing.
The idea has been proposed several times in Connecticut, including as recently as the 2001 legislative session.
Scribner's proposal last year to restrict teenagers from driving overnight was approved last year in the Senate, but the House of Representatives never took it up for a vote.
The legislature's transportation committee is scheduled to introduce the graduated licensing issue today and set a public hearing date this month on the topic.
