Apr 24, 2008
Wilton Bulletin Editorial: Teen driving laws
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Fighting the death toll on the roads isn’t a battle that will ever be won — it’s an unending war of attrition. Things may get better, or worse. But death never surrenders. Neither should we.
The state has gotten more aggressive on the dangers posed by young drivers, with a package of new laws recommended by a governor’s task force, approved by the legislature, and signed Monday by the governor.
Some steps — like a minimum year’s license suspension for teens caught driving under the influence, and a year-and-a-half’s suspension for refusing a blood test — appear non-controversial.
Other initiatives — pushing the driving curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds back from midnight to 11, or making parents attend two hours of driver education class with their teens before they take the driver’s test — will upset some people.
Some folks will also be inconvenienced by the state’s stricter passenger limits. A teen must now drive legally for a year before carrying other teens as passengers — and it’s six months before they can take a sibling to a soccer game.
The 11 o’clock curfew seems unrealistic. The classes for parents — interesting, different, could be eye-opening.
The longer time that a new teen driver must have a license before carrying passengers under the age of 20 — it was six months, now it’s a year — will be difficult for parents to enforce. But it’s a change that has real potential for reducing the number of road tragedies in the state. Teenage passengers greatly increase the distractions even for a new driver with good judgment. They’re also an audience that may tempt more foolhardy young drivers into reckless stunts.
Newly adopted, some of the laws seem onerous. But people will get used to them. Driving an automobile is not a basic human right — it’s a privilege, and life-or-death responsibility. On balance, state leaders have done well taking some serious steps to address a persistent and heartbreaking problem.
Now parents — the front lines in any enforcement effort — need to do their part.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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