INSURANCE COMPANIES STEP UP THEIR EFFORTS TO INCREASE THE MINIMUM DRIVING AGE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES; PHILADELPHIA PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER APPLAUDS THEIR EFFORTS
The National Auto Safety Group is calling on the States to raise the minimum driving age to 17 or 18 years old. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, raising the driving age will save lives. Vehicle accidents are the largest cause of death among teenagers.
In 2006, 3,490 drivers age 15 to 20 died in automobile crashes. High school teens, ages 15 to 17, were involved in 974,000 crashes nationwide and 406,427 of those teenager accidents involved injuries and the resulting economic impact of those accidents was over $40 billion dollars. According to a study performed by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the State Farm Insurance Company, one teenage passenger with a teen driver doubles the risk of a fatal crash. The risk is 5 times higher with two or more teen passengers. Many states in the nation that have raised the legal driving age limits or commenced a graduated licensing program have seen a noticeable drop in teen crash death rates over the past few years.
When this writer was 16 years of age, I narrowly escaped a catastrophic death or injury by being in the wrong place at the right time. On a warm August evening, I was asked to go on a ride with four other friends and due to other plans made by my parents, was unable to meet my friends at the scheduled time for pickup. The next morning, I received a call that three of my dear friends were killed when their speeding car went out of control on Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia, PA and struck a tree. Nothing has impacted my life more than this thought which creeps into my mind with all too frequent occasion as I litigate catastrophic teenage driving accident cases. (www.reiffandbily.com)
Graduated licensing, which has become the standard across the United States in the past 15 years, requires teenagers to spend more time driving with a parent or other responsible adult before they go solo.
On January 23, 2006, Debra Hersman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, testified before the Committee of Transportation at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives concerning junior driver’s licenses in Pennsylvania. After reviewing a multitude of crashes involving novice drivers under the age of 21, in 1993 the Safety Board recommended that Pennsylvania and other states take specific actions, including implementation of a comprehensive provisional licensing system for young novice drivers, also known as graduated drivers licensing (GDL). The model graduated drivers licensing program requires young novice drivers to proceed through three stages: (a) learner’s permit, (b) intermediate or provisional license, and (c) a full license. In Pennsylvania, the junior driver’s license serves as the intermediate phase. To obtain full licensure, a young driver must complete the first two stages without any moving violations or crashes attributed to the driver. It establishes restrictions so that until the driver has an opportunity to gain experience, initial driving occurs in less dangerous circumstances. Restrictions are thereafter lifted after successful completion of the learning and intermediate stages. The use of the three stage system is important because it allows for the incremental introduction of the driving privilege. The provisional license can be suspended or revoked or the unrestricted license can be deferred if certain conditions that occur with safe driving have not been met. This is quite an incentive for most teenagers.
Based on research by the Safety Board, NHTSA and others, the Board recommended the following basic elements of the GDL program in Pennsylvania:
1. A minimum of six months holding period for learner’s permits, during which a licensed driver who is at least 21 years old supervise the permit holder.
2. At least 50 hours of supervised driving practice with a licensed driver who is at least 21 years old.
3. A minimum period of six months without at-fault crashes or traffic violations and accelerated penalties if the driver has an at-fault crash or traffic violation before proceeding to the intermediate (provisional) license.
4. An intermediate phase that includes restrictions on night time driving, driving with excessive passengers, and cell phone usage.
5. The night time driving restriction should prohibit the intermediate or provisional license holder from driving unsupervised at night.
6. The cell phone restriction should prohibit the use of any interactive wireless communication device by learners or intermediate license holders while driving.
7. A minimum six month period for the intermediate or provisional license.
8. A minimum of six months without at-fault crashes or traffic violations and accelerated penalties if the driver has an at-fault crash or traffic violation before proceeding to the full license.
9. Mandatory seat belt use and zero tolerance of alcohol at each stage.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation maintains a website entitled Driver and Vehicle Services (www.dmv.state.pa.us).
Since 1999, the year in which Pennsylvania graduated drivers licenses went into effect providing stricter requirements in the licensing of 16 and 17 year old first time drivers, the number of licensed drivers 16 and 17 year old drivers in 2007 dropped from 153,984 in 2006 to 91,804 in 2007.
The number of teenage fatalities has also dropped, also reflecting the greater use of seat belts, airbags, safer cars, education about the dangers of drunk driving and tougher law enforcement and penalties.
The experienced lawyers at the Pennsylvania personal injury law firm of Reiff and Bily are devoted to promoting public and traffic safety and urge other states to implement the GDL system which has been adopted by the lawmakers of Pennsylvania. If you or a loved one has been injured in a Pennsylvania car accident, please call the experienced Pennsylvania car accident lawyers at Reiff and Bily for a no cost, no obligation consultation by contacting us at 1-800-421-9595 or www.reiffandbily.com.
