Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for June 15, 2006 IL BTW - FROM 25 TO 50

From the Chicago Tribune...

Plan would double the driving time for Illinois teens

By ANN SANNER
Associated Press Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois teens may soon have to put in twice as much time behind the wheel before getting their driver's license, part of what experts say is a national trend in increasing restrictions for new drivers.

Driver's education teachers support the increased hours -- 50, instead of 25 -- that students would have to spend driving under adult supervision. Several parents said they would be willing to put forth the extra time, and the idea doesn't seem to bother teens either.

"I'm going to need all the practice I can get," said Chelsea Besalke, 15, of Springfield. "I only really see it as a benefit to me on the road, helping me feel safer."

But experts question whether the increase would do much good.

"I doubt it will make any difference," said Rob Foss, director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. "Fifty may seem like a lot to people, but it's absolutely minuscule for a task that's this complex and this important."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich intends to sign the bill into law, said spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch.

Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among children and young adults.

About a half dozen states have considered increasing supervised driving hours this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Proposals include increasing supervised time to 30 hours in Iowa and to 60 hours in Kentucky.

Seventeen states already require 50 hours of training, while seven states and the District of Columbia require 40, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

States are also moving to bar novice drivers from talking on cell phones in the car and to limit the number of passengers riding with them. In recent years, Illinois has approved such restrictions.

If Illinois boosts the training hours to 50, 10 of those would have to be at night. Teens who already have gotten their instruction permits would be allowed to finish their training under the old 25-hour requirement.

Supporters hope the boost in driving hours and parental supervision will help produce better drivers.

"This is a time those parents can really influence a kid's life," said Les Auxier, a driver's education teacher at Rochester High School in central Illinois. "The parents need to know how those students drive and this just gives them more confidence in how they drive."

But Foss, from the University of North Carolina, said there's no research to show that 50 hours is significantly better than 25 in helping to reduce traffic accidents.

He and other experts favor lengthening the time between young drivers getting an instruction permit and getting their license. That's when teen drivers, since they must be accompanied by a parent or some other responsible adult, are most likely to drive safely and develop good habits.

Illinois mandates that teenage drivers have their instruction permit for at least three months -- one of the shorter permit requirements. Most states require students to have the permits for at least six months.

"The main thing that Illinois should be doing to improve its law is lengthening the period for the instruction permit because right now that's not long enough," said Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Rader called six months the minimum. Foss said permits should be required for a year.

Another advantage of a longer permit period is that there's no room for anyone to lie. Foss and some driving instructors are concerned parents may say their children have completed 50 hours of training when they really haven't.

Some parents said the extra hours could be difficult, but they would make sure their child completed the 50 hours.

"I'm not opposed to more hours," said Mary Beth Watts, who's helping her daughter learn to drive. "We have the time and we're available to do that for her. I don't know that many parents do."

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The bill is HB4768.

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On the Net:

Illinois General Assembly:
www.ilga.gov

Highway Safety Research Center:
www.hsrc.unc.edu

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
www.iihs.org