California Roads are About to Get a Little BIt Safer

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...cle_934225.php
>
> USENET Condensed Version below:
>
> Putting the brakes on unsafe teen driving
>
> JENNIFER MUIR
> Register columnist
>
>
>
>
> Part of Geoff Bowen wishes he had been born a year earlier. Another
> part of him thinks it wouldn't matter, anyway.
>
> See, Bowen is 15. He's had his learner's permit since September. He
> will take a test to get his driver's license in March.
>
> But Bowen will be driving under stricter terms than he expected. A
> state law took effect Jan.1 that requires new drivers to hang up their
> keys an hour earlier and prevents them from chauffeuring peer
> passengers for a year.
>
> The law requires 16- and 17-year-olds to stay off the road from 11
> p.m. to 5 a.m. during their first year as a licensed driver.
> Previously, the curfew began at midnight.
>
> The law also increases the time that the minor drivers must be
> licensed before they carry passengers who are younger than 20 years
> old - to a year from six months. It includes teens who still have
> provisional licenses from 2005, according to the Department of Motor
> Vehicles.
>
> The idea is that teen drivers are more likely to be distracted when
> they have friends in the car, and thus more likely to get in a crash.
> (They can drive friends around if a licensed driver older than 25 is
> in the car.) And since driving conditions are more dangerous at night
> - especially with more drunks driving around - the earlier teens get
> off the road, the better.
>
> "It's going to have an impact," California Highway Patrol officer
> Chris Goodwin said. "Eleven to five is peak hours for drunk drivers.
> And by removing the children from the roadway during those hours,
> you're creating a safer environment for them. They don't have to
> encounter people driving under the influence of alcohol."
>
> Also, teens are more likely to get in accidents because they're not as
> experienced at reacting to unexpected conditions, such as rain or
> roadway hazards, Goodwin said.
>
> I can see why the law's sponsor, Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia,
> thought it would be a good idea. In 2004, 54 percent of teenage
> drivers who died behind the wheel had at least one passenger riding
> with them, according to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
> report. And 62 percent of teen passengers who died in crashes were
> riding in cars driven by teens, the report states.
>
> "A lot of new drivers don't understand the rules of driving," Lam
> said. "So now, by the time they have other people in the car, they'll
> be more experienced and won't endanger others."

A better solution would be to stop singling out teens and pass a law
that mandated 10 years of more in prison for anyone found at fault in a
fatal crash. Of course it would be tough to get a jury that would
convict since most americans are criminal coddlers when it comes to
traffic crimes.