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October 31, 2006
CURFEWS FOR TEEN DRIVERS: A HARD SELL, TIME FINDS
In a feature entitled “Putting Limits on Teen Drivers,” Time has looked in depth at arguments for preventing crashes by imposing curfews on teen drivers, and resistance by some parents to the idea.
“Getting a driver's license remains a signal milestone for teens in their impatient journey toward adulthood--and for their parents, eager to liberate themselves from constant chauffeuring duties,” the article notes. “But car crashes are the main cause of death for U.S. teenagers, killing about 6,000 drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 each year… And the younger and less experienced the driver, the worse the danger. Drivers ages 16 to 19 have a fatality rate four times as high as that of drivers 25 to 29.”
Although many states have adopted some form of graduated driver license requirements for teens, the article notes, with resulting drops in crashes, “legislators have balked at imposing additional measures that could make teen drivers even safer.” Yet studies “suggest that nighttime driving is particularly dangerous for teens, and curfews are urged... But last year nine states introduced measures to rein in teens' nighttime driving privileges, and only one--Nevada--passed such a law.” The changes there “are already producing positive results. In Las Vegas, collisions involving teen drivers were down 18%, to 1,155, for the first eight months of the year compared with the same period in 2005.”
Posted by MVHAP at October 31, 2006 05:00 AM