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Friday, January 1, 2010

Make driving safer for teenagers
WITH THE family of Kyleigh D'Alessio looking on, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signs "Kyleigh's Law," regulating young drivers. Kyleigh, 16, was killed in a 2006 crash involving a probationary driver. (Associated Press photo)

 

When teenage friends happily pile into a car to cruise the streets, they’re acting out a rite of passage almost as old as the invention of the automobile.
 
But on crowded highways, it’s all too often a shortcut to funeral rites for young drivers and their passengers. Distractions from cell phones and other mobile devices contribute to the risk for young drivers.
 
In fact, to cling to the notion that teens should be able to socialize behind the wheel is a dangerous bit of nostalgia.
 
Fortunately, 43 states, including New Jersey, have shaken out of such reveries and imposed strict limits on teens riding together. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania lawmakers apparently remain transfixed by memories of their own youthful pastime — refusing, so far, to do what’s best for today’s young drivers.
 
Even though state officials tightened driver licensing within the last decade — smartly requiring a minimum of 50 hours of on-the-road experience before issuing full driving privileges — the state’s licensing rules remain some of the nation’s more lenient.
 
Again and again, the folly of this approach to teen driving rules has played out in graphic detail. In recent weeks, six Philadelphia-area teens have perished in three car crashes.
 
Over a decade, the death toll has reached nearly 400 drivers and 600 passengers and other motorists.
 
Yet lawmakers who advocate for such restrictions as granting police the right to stop and ticket drivers without seat belts, or place limits on passengers in teen-operated vehicles, say it’s difficult to gain a majority for such reforms.
 
The 50-hour training requirement was enacted after the legislature ordered a lengthy study of hazards facing new drivers. By that standard, the case was made long ago for passenger limits. Repeated highway safety studies have charted step-by-step the statistical increase in the risk of a fatal accident that comes with adding one, two, or more riders.
 
So it’s appalling to hear legislators such as Rep. Katharine M. Watson (R., Bucks) dismissed by colleagues as a “hysterical mother” for promoting tougher teen-driving rules. Lawmakers have also ignored the pleas of the Pennsylvania State Police to grant them expanded authority to ticket unbelted drivers without having to stop them first for some other offense.
 
While the leadership vacuum prevails in Harrisburg, parents remain the first line of defense for the young drivers in their family. The licensing of a teen may free a parent from car pool duties, but parents need to understand that a new driver simply isn’t equipped to haul a car full of riders. By the same token, parents need to enforce rules against their kids hopping into other teens’ vehicles.
 
Imposing stronger legislated rules or parental limits on teen drivers may be perceived as tough love, but it’s the surest way to assure that more teens survive the deadly risks of the road.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 1:00 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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