»Article posted on: May 5, 2011 by: Kat Zeman
Sorry dude, find another ride! Tougher laws for teen drivers
A New York law that took effect this month reduces the number of passengers youthful drivers are allowed to have in the car and increases supervised driving hours. If you’re under the age of 21 in New York, you will now only be allowed to have one other non-family passenger in your car.
The law also requires you to log 50 hours of supervised driving before you can schedule a road test (previously the law required 20 hours) – and 15 of those 50 hours must take place after sunset, according to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles.
Lack of driving experience contributes to high crash rates for teens. Motor vehicle crashes remain one of the leading causes of death among 15- to 20-year-olds, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III).
I can understand the motives behind increasing the number of supervised hours a teen must log before taking a driver’s test. However, restricting their number of passengers seems unfair. Once a teen earns his or her driver’s license, the driving privileges that apply to them should be equal to anybody else with a driver’s license. Are you telling me that an 18-year-old is mature enough to die for our country but not allowed to drive two friends to the movies?
I’ve read claims that a teen driver’s chance of getting into a fatal accident doubles when a teen passenger is in the car. With three or more passengers, the risk reportedly quadruples. But I’ve read a lot of claims about many things. I’m not convinced that limiting the number of passengers is an effective law. Whatever happened to carpooling?
filed under CAR INSURANCE | tags: CAR INSURANCE
Blaine said:
Mar 02, 10 at 5:09 pmI think this is stupid. It raises a lot of risks and reduces a lot of awareness for things. First, let’s face it, kids under 21 drink, whether we like to believe it or not. We, as adults, should at least help promote the safe transportation of these kids. What would we rather they be more concerned about - getting home safely or how many people are in their car at a time? Plus, I know when I was in high school (granted, you know it was the 70s and being a hippy was all the rage), we carpooled to save the environment. More people driving to school = more pollution in our already demolishing environment.
Karen said:
Mar 03, 10 at 12:23 amI was in a car accident when I was 17 years old. I had two friends in the car with me. I wouldn’t have survived without them. They calmed me down and helped get me out, as I was trapped inside. We were on open road so it took almost a half hour for an ambulance to get to us. It took my friends five minutes to talk me through getting out. I wouldn’t want a law like this to stop something like my situation.
NYDDOP said:
Mar 28, 10 at 6:20 pmI think its great news for parents of teens who are going through drivers education right now that their teens get more training before being able to get their license. Were talking about saving life’s. But what about the parents of teens who were able to get their license under the old laws? Taking a Defensive Driving program together would be a good idea.