Law strengthened for teen drivers

Saturday, July 11, 2009

The law recently passed by Indiana legislators should strengthen the guidelines for teen drivers. It became effective on July 1.

Graduated driver licensing is a three-stage process designed to ease new drivers into the experience.

It begins with a learner's permit requiring supervised driving at all times. Next is a probationary license that allows unsupervised driving with restrictions and concludes with a full-privilege license.

Indiana teens must comply with a number of restrictions once they are licensed. For the first 180 days of driving, they cannot drive from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Beyond those first 180 days, no driving from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. from Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings until they reach the age of 18.

There are exemptions for teens participating in school sanctioned and religious events or who are working or if they are accompanied by a licensed driver at least 25 years old.

New drivers cannot carry passengers for the first 180 days, or until the age of 18, unless accompanied by a licensed instructor or driver aged 25 year or older. Exemptions to this include siblings and/or the child or spouse of the driver.

Teens younger than 18 years old cannot operate a motor vehicle while using any type of telecommunications device unless making a 911 emergency call.

Beginning July 1, 2010, the minimum age for applying for a learner's permit will be 15 years and 6 months with a driver education course and 16 years without the course.

Before applying for a probationary license, all new drivers, regardless of age, will be required to complete a 50-hour driving log with 10 of those hours at nighttime.

The minimum age for a probationary license will be raised to 16 years and 6 months with driver's education and 16 years and 9 months without it.

AAA Hoosier Motor Club statistics show teen drivers have, by far, the highest crash rate of all drivers. The new law is aimed at reducing the number of teen-crash related injuries and fatalities.

Traffic crashes continue to the be the number one killer of teenagers, taking approximately 6,000 lives of kids between the ages of 15 and 19 each year.

Another 500,000 are injured across the country in accidents.

In 2007, Indiana lost 153 teens in traffic accidents and more than 700 received sustained life-long, incapacitating injuries.

Driving logs can be obtained from AAA by contacting their Public Affairs office at 317-923-1500, ext. 380.

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  • Please, State of Indiana- legislate some more laws to keep us all from harm! How about banning any food or drink from a vehicle? Or, an unruly child? How about a map someone might look at? No make-up allowed in vehicles either- someone may be tempted to put it on. Wait! no more radios or CD players- too distracting! I know, just take our licenses and our cars away and make us use public transportation. Where did personal responsibility go? Oh, I know, we can't police ourselves and our children- we need the state to do it for us!

    -- Posted by Rome on Fri, Jul 10, 2009, at 11:22 PM
  • Rome, look at the numbers. They don't lie. 6000 kids aged 15 to 19 died in 2007 in car crashes across the country. 153 in Indiana alone. You must not have had to pull a dead teen from a car or had to attend the funeral of a teenager who died in a car wreck. Hope you never do. Several states are enacting similiar laws.

    -- Posted by purple_heat on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 9:33 AM
  • THey should have these rules set for Elderly also.

    Sorry but there are some elderly that just won't say no to driving. and they drive like 30 miles an hour in 55 miles an hour limits. or they just stop when they shouldn't. That could cause an accident also.

    I do agree with the rules for teens. My niece just started driving and she has tried to mess with her cell and her ipod while driving.. not good.

    Thanks Mitch Daniels for Protecting these kids!! Hope they follow it. :)

    -- Posted by luv2bmom2001 on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 9:50 AM
  • It's a good start. I would have gone a little farther though, You have to be 18 or a high school diploma, or a grade point average of some type. Maybe some kids would studie harder, they may have abetter incentive. Bring drivers ed. back as grad critera like math and science. tuff yes but I think are kids are worth it. greatful mom

    -- Posted by greatful mom on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 10:21 AM
  • greatful mom -

    i agree - make them get good grades and put drivers ed with school.

    it shouln't cost $700 - $800 for a kid to learn 2 drive during the summer.

    -- Posted by luv2bmom2001 on Sun, Jul 12, 2009, at 7:18 AM
  • smallergovnow, driving is still a "privilege not a right". If it were a "right", then anyone could do it. Not every person has a right to get a license. Rome, you need to read more detail when you look at these stories in the paper, if you did, you would see the true meaning for what they are doing. Someone has to protect our children because they can't protect themselves and most of the time the parents don't really care what they are doing as long as they are out of their way.

    -- Posted by magoo55 on Tue, Jul 14, 2009, at 8:17 AM
  • Uh yeah, smallergov, they do, but it is ILLEGAL so it is not a right.

    -- Posted by magoo55 on Tue, Jul 14, 2009, at 4:30 PM
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