Teen driving law is too weak

http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/1222-teendriving.html
Wednesday, 22 December 1999

Teens may grouse about the new state law that makes getting and keeping a drivers license harder. Truth be told, the law doesn't go far enough.
In fact, Arizona lags behind other states in protecting teens from the dangers of driving - more specifically, driving under the influence of being a teen-ager.
Under the law that takes place Jan. 1, the state will issue only provisional licenses for teens under 18. Sixteen-year-olds can still get a license, but an accumulation of driving infractions could eliminate that privilege.
That's a good start. But only a start, because teens will lose driving privileges only after three moving infractions. That is much too lenient to be effective.
The Arizona law runs counter to a trend across the country in which states are mandating experience behind the wheel - all in hopes of protecting the teen drivers, passengers and other drivers on the road.
California, for example, requires 50 hours of supervised driving before teen-agers can get a license. Beyond that, teen driving hours are restricted as are the ages of passengers in a car driven by a teen-ager.
In contrast, Arizona will require only 25 hours of driving experience or proof that the teen has completed a driver training course.
After the first driving infraction in Arizona, a teen can elect to attend driving school to get the violation cleaned off a driving record. Arizona mandates traffic school only after a second moving violation.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety likes the idea of graduated licensing, in which teens accumulate a minimum number of hours of experience, first through a learner's permit.
An intermediate permit allows unsupervised driving under less-risky conditions. A full drivers license is granted only if the first two requirements have been met successfully.
The rest of us are getting smarter after decades of allowing teens to hit the streets with their racing hormones, short attention spans and belief in their own immortality. Many teens who turn 16 are not ready for the responsibility of driving a few-thousand-pound metal-and-glass container at high speeds.
They are even less able to distinguish right from wrong when they've got other teens in the car. And driving between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. has its own special hazards.
Arizona legislators had the right idea in making the license provisional until age 18. But true driver and public safety would be better served by requiring more time behind the wheel and by yanking a license more quickly for moving violations.
The editorials in The Arizona Daily Star express the opinion of the paper. That point of view is determined by the editorial board, which is composed of Jane Amari, James Kiser, Steve Auslander, Judy Donovan, Margo Hernandez, Mark Muro, Adele Ross and David Fitzsimmons. Editorials are written by members of the board. The Star maintains a separation between the editorial pages, which include commentary and opinion, and the news pages, which do not.

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