CT Teen Driving Reforms

April 17th, 2008

Governor Jodi Rell’s Teen Driving Task Force  has placed a bill before the CT Legislature that would provide tougher penalties for teen drivers caught breaking the law. The Bill has been passed by the House of Representatives and is now before the Senate for review. If passed the laws would take effect August 1.

Fueled by two highly publicized fatal crashes in 2007 that left seven teenagers dead, the task force has looked to reforms adopted by Massachusetts that have shown impressive results in just one year.

The proposed CT legislation is more lenient than the laws adopted by MA. The new regulations would apply to drivers 16 and 17 years old and would carry the following penalties for a first offense:

• fines between $75 and $600

• drunk driving: one year suspension

• reckless driving: six months suspension

• speeding: 45 days suspension

• using a cellphone: 30 days suspension

• violating curfew: 30 days suspension

• violating passenger restrictions: 30 days

The first-offense penalties create a zero-tolerance message that lawmakers hope will serve as a deterrent for new drivers, as well as a one-time hard lesson learned for those penalized.

Connecticut’s task force timely undertaking was supported with the publishing of a study in the March issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. The study was funded by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (link to study) and concluded that car crashes are the leading cause of death for tweens and teens, with the most dangerous risk factors being riding unbuckled with new teen drivers on high-speed roads.

“While young drivers have higher chances of dying, the six-year study focused on nearly 10,000 children passengers who were killed in car crashes. More than half – 54 percent – were riding with a teen driver. Drivers younger than 16 were the most dangerous.” (- The Associated Press, March 3, 2008)

The study recommends that national standards and restrictions be adopted by all states. Currently, 9 states allow 14-year-olds to have driver permits, 30 states allow 15-year-olds to have permits. The study recommends that drivers under 18 should not be allowed more than one teen passenger without adult supervision., but only 34 states have that provision.

Current CT laws restrict permits to 16-year-olds, include curfew and passenger restrictions, as well as adult supervision provisions.  The new statutes recommending stiffer penalties for teens are necessary, safety advocates say, to reduce fatal accidents among teens who often crash because of speeding and inexperience.