Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
INDIANAPOLIS - Some teen drivers would have to wait until they are 17 to get a driver's license, and anyone younger than 18 would be banned from using a cell phone while driving if a bill unveiled Monday passes in the 2009 legislative session.
"We're not trying to penalize teens with this … we're simply trying to keep them alive," said Sherry Deane, public affairs specialist for AAA Hoosier Motor Club at a Statehouse news conference Monday.
Senate Bill 16 would strengthen Indiana's existing graduated driver's licensing law while adding several other requirements or restrictions.
All of the legislation was recommended by a bipartisan summer committee of lawmakers studying teen driving.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds nationwide. And drivers 16 to 19 are four times as likely to be involved in a crash as other drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
More than 150 Hoosier teen drivers lost their lives in fatal crashes in Indiana in 2007.
There are five major changes to the state law in the proposed bill:
•A requirement of 50 hours of supervised driving with a licensed instructor or licensed driver at least 25 years old to get a license. But legislators at the news conference could not explain how this would be verified.
•Teens who take driver's education could not get their license until 16 years and 6 months - an increase of five months over current law. Teens who don't take driver's education have to wait six more months to get their license, at age 17.
•An extension of the time period restricting passengers in cars with new teen drivers from three months to six months but also allows an exemption for siblings.
•A ban on the use of cell phones or any type of telecommunications device while operating a vehicle until age 18. Similar bans exist in at least 17 other states.
•A requirement that a placard be displayed in the vehicle indicating a driver is newly licensed.
Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, is the primary author of Senate Bill 16 while Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, is a co-author. Wyss has carried a similar bill unsuccessfully the last two years.
"The statistics have built a case for what we think needs to be done in the state of Indiana," Holdman said.
Allen County Coroner E. Jon Brandenberger also spoke at the news conference, recalling that five weeks ago he helped kick off "Teen Safe Driving Month" on the same day that an 18-year-old Fort Wayne driver was buried after dying as the result of texting and driving.
And he also talked about 17-year-old Carroll High School student Audrea Gregory, who died last week in a Fort Wayne crash while driving her four siblings to school.
"My message to parents is there is a learning curve to driving," Brandenberger said.
nkelly@jg.net
