Christmas Eve 2011 brings worried parents of new drivers a safe new gift

In this new age of iPods, in car TV’s and social networking young drivers have more distractions than ever. Lawmakers have heard the call of worried adults and victims of these types of accidents and have written a new attempt at restrictions to help guide our youth. It may not be enough because there is still not laws barring teens from Texting and driving.  Distractions can come in all types and this is a good attempt to keep our teen drivers attentive to the road and without points, suspensions and accidents on their license. All of these new precautions will take effect December 24, 2011.

 “Behind-the-wheel” time for learners permit holders under the age of 18 years of age increased from 50 hours to 65 hours. It will now require 10 hours of night time driving, while the other five additional hours must be driven in poor weather conditions. This slight change can definitely help parents and guardians realize their participation. The need to expose young brains to different situations while behind the wheel of a 4,000 lb machine is more important than I think some realize.

 

Further changes to the youth driver’s law have tried to address the common practice of piling all your friends into the car and head out to the Wawa or a concert venue. Current law limits drivers under the age of 18 to transporting no more passengers than the number of seat belts in the vehicle. While this may seem like common sense, we all know teens do not come equipped with common sense.

The new law states that for the first six months of “Cinderella” driving, the teen driver or learners permit holder can only have one passenger under age 18yrs, not an immediate family member in their vehicle unless they are accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. If they have had a clean record (no moving violations and no reportable crashes) after six months, they may have up to three passengers under age 18 who are not immediate family members without a parent or legal guardian present. If they have any convictions or are partially or fully responsible for a reportable crash while a junior driver, they are again restricted to one passenger.

All in all these new amendments to the Teen Driver laws in PA seem to be in the right tone of voice but in my opinion miss the mark on TRULY curbing distractions for the young and inexperienced drivers with a fresh drivers license.