June 18, 2010-Bismarck Tribune Editorial

Look again at graduated driver’s

licenses

Tribune editorial | Posted: Friday, June 18, 2010 2:00 am

What’s the biggest reason behind adopting a graduated driver’s license for teenagers?

Saving lives.

States that have gone to some form of incremental progression of young driver licensing have seen a 20 percent drop in teen traffic fatalities.

Argue what you may, it’s about white crosses along the side of the road for young men and women.

It’s not a black and white issue in terms of being able to drive or not. It’s about lengthening the amount of time between getting that learner’s permit and obtaining a full-fledged license — adding time, and experience.

Generally, here’s how it would work, according to material from state Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm:

– Learner stage. At age 14, young people could get a learner permit. When driving, they would have to be accompanied by an adult driver age 21 or over, they could not use a cell phone while driving and they could not drive between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. They would have to pass a written and vision exam, and they could have no history of alcohol or drug use.

– Intermediate stage. It would require the teens to be at least 151/2 years of age, have no violation, log at least 40 hours of supervised driving with 10 of those hours being at night, have had a learner permit for at least 12 months and pass a driving exam. They could not use a cell phone while driving, would be allowed no driving between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., no history of alcohol or drug use, no pervious traffic violations and no more than one passenger under the age of 18.

– Unrestricted stage. The driver would have to be at least 16 years of age, have no traffic violations, no history of drug or alcohol use and have had an intermediate license for at least six months.

There would be an exception for teens involved in farm and ranch work.

It’s more complicated. Today, you can go from learner permit to licensed driver relatively quickly. With a graduated driver’s license, there are many more hoops to jump through, and young drivers would gain experience as they gained maturity.

A graduated driver’s license was considered in the 2009 legislative session and was rejected by lawmakers. The opposition was based on a number of issues, but could be traced largely to a concern about forcing government into people’s lives.

That’s something lawmakers have to balance with saving the lives of teenage drivers.

In 2009, there were 16 fatal teen-driver accidents and 545 injuries. The numbers are frank reminders of what’s at stake.

The insurance commissioner and a coalition of interest groups should make another run at the Legislature on the issue of graduated driver’s licenses.

It would be an important tool in keeping North Dakota highways safe, not just for teenagers, but for all the drivers in the state.

The bottom line: It would keep more teens alive.