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Survey Shows Knowledge Gap About Pennsylvania’s Teen Driving Law

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Pennsylvania’s update of its graduated driver licensing law for teens marked its one year anniversary last month.    A new survey shows there’s still a knowledge gap about some of the provisions.

The changes increased the number of supervised driving hours and limited passengers for junior license holders for the first six months of driving, while making  seatbelt use a primary offense for  all junior drivers and passengers under age 18.  But a survey conducted for Allstate Insurance finds only 36% of parents and 56% of teens claim to be confident   in their knowledge of the law.

Chris Conner of Allstate says there’s also a gap between parents and teens when it comes to enforcement.  Nearly half the teens said they’d broken at least one requirement and only 19% said their parents were aware of the infraction.

Conner says the survey shows parents can influence their teen’s behavior behind the wheel. About 73% of the teens surveyed said they considered conversations they had with their parents about the graduated driver licensing law to be very valuable.  He says the increased time of behind-the-wheel instruction required by the law gives parents an opportunity to have those conversations.

Conner says parents and teens should become familiar with the law before the teen even applies for a learner’s permit. There is information about the law on PennDOT’s website and also at the Allstate newsroom.

AAA Study Finds Risk for Teen Drivers Rises with Number of Underage Passengers

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The risk of a teen being killed in a traffic crash rises with the number of young passengers according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.   

The study says if a 16 or 17 year old driver adds one passenger under the age of 21,  the risk  increases by 44%. With two young passengers, the risk doubles and with three or more, it quadruples.

But Jenny Robinson of AAA Mid-Atlantic says carrying an adult passenger has the opposite effect. A teen driving with an adult age 35 and up has their risk factor reduced by 62%.

Pennsylvania’s new teen driver law limits the number of non-family young passengers for the first six months of driving.  Robinson says parents can impose their own limits for a longer period.

Robinson says parents should set the rules before they hand over the keys.  She says AAA has parent and teen driver contracts on their website.

Robinson says they’ve known for some time that having young passengers is a distraction for a teen driver, and this study really makes the risk clear.

Tougher Teen Driver Law Wins Final Legislative Approval

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The house has concurred with senate amendments, giving final approval to a bill to boost teen driver safety.   Representative Kathy Watson (R-Bucks) has been trying to strengthen the teen driver law since 2005, she says the greatest distraction is other teens in the vehicle. 

The senate watered down the key provision limiting passengers for new drivers; it will apply to the first six months of a junior license instead of the full term. However, the senate added a reporting requirement. There will be a biannual report done on the legislation to see how it’s working, and whether the state has reduced the number of crashes and deaths for 16 and 17 year old drivers and passengers.

HB9  limits teen drivers to a single non family passenger for the first six months. If they have a clean driving record at that point, they’d be allowed to have up to three young people who are not their family members in the vehicle with them.

The bill also makes seatbelt violations a primary offense for drivers and passengers under 18. Watson says that means a police officer can stop a young driver if they or their passengers under age 18 are not buckled up.  She says 50% of those who have died in crashes in this age group were not wearing seatbelts.

The measure also adds 15 hours-10 of night time and five of inclement weather driving-to the current 50 hour training requirement for a junior license.

Watson   says studies show a 16-year-old’s chance of dying in a crash increases with each passenger added to the vehicle. She believes the bill gives families a better tool to construct whatever rules they feel are important for their teen driver. She expects the governor will sign it into law.