Clearing Up the Confusion About the Latest Teen Driving Bill

Last week I was at my chiropractor’s office for my regular adjustment, when Kristin, a member of the office staff, said, “Can I ask you a teen driving question ?”  “Sure,” I responded. 

“My little sister is taking driver’s ed at school,” Kristin explained, “and her teacher said there’s a bill in Trenton that would require teens to take 100 hours of driver training instead of six.  Is that right?  I figured if anyone would know what’s going on, it’s you.”

“Well, there is a teen driving bill making its way through the Legislature,” I noted, “but it wouldn’t expand the driver training hours.”  What it would do, I explained to Kristin, is require teens to log a minimum number of “practice” or “supervised driving” hours during the permit phase of the Graduated Driver License (GDL)program -- 50 hours (10 a night) if they completed 6 hours of driver training (the latter is required for 16 year olds), 100 hours (20 at night) if they didn’t complete the 6 hours (not required for teens 17 or older). 

The provision isn’t a new concept -- currently 46 states and the District of Columbia require teen drivers to log a minimum number of practice hours (ranging from a low of 10 to a high of 100) during the permit or supervised driving phase of GDL with a licensed adult (usually a parent).   (GDL, in case you’re not familiar with the term, is the name of the three-step licensing process that all novice drivers must complete before receiving an unrestricted license in New Jersey and all 49 other states.)  Drivers keep a log (yes, it’s an honor system) that they must present to the licensing agency prior to taking their drivers test.  While teens could simply fill out the log and have a parent sign off (thus defeating the purpose of the requirement), there are teens and parents that do fulfill the requirement.  Earlier this year, I contacted colleagues in 10 states that mandate practice hours and found  that the compliance rate ranges from a low of 30 percent to a high of 85. 

The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee decided at a hearing last week in Trenton, however, to remove the practice hour requirement from the bill (A3309/S3058) citing concerns about families not being able to fulfill it.  While I could easily argue that it isn’t a heavy lift to require a 16-year-old permit holder to spend 4 hours a month, over a 12 month period, practicing, I’ll concede the point. (In fact, my 16-year-old, who obtained his permit  Labor Day weekend, has logged well over 40 hours to date or just over 11 hours a month. We use the sample log provided in the back of the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission publication, Safe Driving: A Parent’s Guide to Teaching Teens to keep track of his driving.)

In lieu of the practice requirement, the Committee, with the sponsors’ Wisniewski, Lampitt and Stack) and advocates’ support, left the remaining two provisions in the bill.  The first lengthens the holding period for a permit from a minimum of 6 to 12 months.  This isn’t a heavy lift for most New Jersey teens since the vast majority obtain their permit at age 16 and can’t take the behind the wheel driving test until they turn 17.  It does, however, impact teens under 21 who opt to wait to get a permit until they’re 17 or older. 

Do six additional months matter? When it comes to teens, absolutely.  A longer permit phase allows teens -- the age group with the highest crash risk of any on the road -- to gain experience with continued supervision.  And this is important since research shows that it takes 1,000 hours of driving before a novice driver’s crash risk drops substantially (check out page 23 of the Safe Driving parent publication noted earlier).  Recognizing that nothing kills more teens in New Jersey and nationwide than car crashes (33 in New Jersey/ 4,000 in the U.S. last year), mandating more practice will save lives.

The other requirement that remains in the bill is one that has gotten a lot of attention in the press -- requiring a teen under 18 years of age to attend an education program with a parent, guardian or supervising adult (i.e., an older sibling, neighbor, coach, clergy, etc.) as a pre-requisite for obtaining a permit.  The one-shot, facilitated program (it is not a multi-day training or course as some media outlets have reported) addresses teen driving risk and how and why the GDL program works to address that risk.  It also promotes the importance of practice in all kinds of weather and on all types of roadways, as well as parental involvement.  The latter, as I’ve discussed in previous posts, is critical.  Research conducted by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that teen drivers who report having parents who set rules and monitor their activities in a helpful, supportive way are half as likely to crash.  They’re also 71 percent less likely to drive intoxicated, 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone when driving, and 50 percent more likely to buckle up. 

What’s the cost for attending this program?  Nothing, but your time.  Thanks to the work of members of the New Jersey Teen Safe Driving Coalition, the infrastructure is in place to deliver the program through schools and community-based settings at no charge to participants.  I recently facilitated one of the programs (Share the Keys, developed by the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic  Safety [NJDHTS] and Kean University) at my son’s high school, West Morris Central.  (All juniors must attend the program with a parent to obtain parking privileges at the high school.)  In addition to the topics I mentioned above, we also discussed using a parent-teen contract and dealing with peer pressure (the latter is particularly important since adding one passenger to a vehicle driven by a teen increases the crash risk by 50 percent). 

Parents who participated in the program presented at West Morris and six other high schools this fall were asked to complete a post-survey to assess the impact of the information they received.  Ninety-two percent of the parents felt compelled to increase their teens’ practice hours, 99 percent felt more inclined to enforce the provisions of the GDL ,and 97 percent felt persuaded to control the keys (results were compiled by Kean University).  Clearly,these findings indicate the value of providing this information to families.  And while detractors might argue that families are busy and shouldn’t be forced to participate in a program, requiring them to invest 90 minutes (the bill limits the program to 90 minutes whether provided in-person or online) to learn how they can “inoculate” their teens against car crashes -- which kill more teens than the next three leading causes of death for this age group combined -- is certainly a worthwhile endeavor. 

So back to Kristin and her original inquiry.  I explained the two remaining provisions -- not at the level of detail described above -- and pointed out that the bill isn’t a slam dunk.  It still has to be approved by both the Senate and Assembly (one voting session remains in this current legislative session) before it gets to the Governor’s desk.  If it’s signed into law -- the Administration has been characteristically mum about the bill -- the longer permit holding period and  parent/teen orientation requirements would not go into effect until early 2013.  If it doesn’t pass, the bill must be reintroduced in the 215th legislative session that begins on January 10, 2012. 

For now, I urge families to take advantage of the education programs offered by AAA (Dare to Prepare), the New Jersey State Safety  Council (Alive at 25) and NJDHTS/Kean University (Share the Keys).  If one is scheduled in your community, take the time to attend and get informed -- you will learn something.  Additionally, if your teen is currently holding a permit or about to get one, schedule lots of practice time.  I promise you that, in both cases, it will be time well spent.  And if you’re inclined to join me in supporting the provisions of this bill, please contact your legislators.