When thinking about teenage drivers, it’s hard not to form a stereotypical picture. A picture of a kid, speeding down the highway in a car packed full of friends, blasting the radio, chatting on a cell phone and not paying attention to the road or the other drivers.
Now, thankfully, the state of Maine is taking strong steps to change that picture, making the roads safer, and reducing the number of kids needlessly killed in car accidents.
Since 2003, Maine has been requiring teens to go through a process called graduated licensing, designed to make sure they are fully-qualified and responsible drivers when they get their licenses.
The state requires teenagers under the age of 18 to complete a driver’s education course before obtaining an instruction permit. Then before getting an intermediate license, they must complete at least 35 hours of supervised driving. The law also prohibits drivers from carrying passengers, with the exception of immediate family members, for two years after receiving their intermediate license, unless they are accompanied by a licensed driver over 20 years of age who has had a valid license for two or more years.
Additionally, for two years after getting an intermediate license, teens can’t drive between midnight and 5 a.m. or use a cell phone while driving.
While these requirements no doubt raise howls of complaint from teens that might feel their freedom is being limited, that’s too bad. Car crashes are the leading cause of death among Maine’s teenagers, and graduated licensing has been shown to save lives in Maine and in every other state where a similar program has been implemented.
A study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, showed that graduated licensing has reduced fatal crashes of 16-year-old drivers by 11 percent nationwide.
In Maine, an average of 5,000 kids per year die in car crashes annually. The Johns Hopkins study found that graduated licensing can save the lives of 11 percent, or 550, of those kids. And that doesn’t even take into account the number of other drivers involved in accidents with teenagers.
In short, graduated licensing works. While nothing will keep every teenage driver safe from accidents, the state has taken a big step towards making sure that the stereotypical picture of an out-of control teenager is a rare sight on Maine’s roads.
‘Tina’s law’ enacted
Graduated licensing isn’t the only thing Maine is doing to make the roads safer.
Last week, “Tina’s Law,” named for a Scarborough woman who was killed last year after her car was hit by a trucker with more than 20 license suspensions, went into effect.
The law sets fines of up to $3,000 and also jail time of 30 days to five years for drivers convicted of committing a driving offense while operating under suspension.
It also creates a new crime for habitual offenders who drive with a suspended license and are caught driving under the influence, driving to endanger or trying to elude police. They could go to jail for up to five years. Unlicensed drivers involved in a fatality can face 10 years behind bars.
“Tina’s Law,” which was championed by the family of Tina Turcotte of Scarborough, who was victimized in an accident last year, is another positive step by the state towards making the roads safer.
Certainly, Turcotte’s family agrees. “If this law had been in place on July 29 of last year, my daughter Tina would be here with us today,” said Pat LaNigra, Tina Turcotte’s mother.
While Tina’s Law won’t stop every suspended driver from getting behind the wheel, it will certainly reduce that number, especially after a few public cases where drivers are prosecuted and convicted under the new law.
Nothing will ever make the roads 100 percent safe from dangerous drivers, but with graduated licensing and Tina’s Law, the state has taken some strong steps to make things safer for everyone.
Mike Higgins, assistant editor
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