Concern Grows as Teens Die In Crashes

Too many teen motorists regard seat belts as an option, along with speed limits, curfews and even driver licenses, according to teen drivers, educators and parents.

Amanda Shea, 19, wears a seat belt religiously only because of the accident she had at 16, just after acquiring her license.

"There were two friends in my car with me, and we were all wearing seat belts, and that is why we were all okay," said Shea, of Mechanicsville, who studies at the College of Southern Maryland.

She cites attitudes toward safety belts as one of several risk behaviors she sees in herself and other young drivers she knows, including a propensity to dance along to CDs and to text-message on cellphones while at the steering wheel of a moving vehicle.

"I'm not kidding," she said. "I ran into my garage door three or four times because I was text-messaging. I had to pay for them all, too, and it was expensive."

The recent fatalities have prompted a call for stronger enforcement and awareness of teenage driving laws by state Del. William A. Bronrott, a Montgomery Democrat.

Three years ago, when 15 youths died in a span of a month in the Washington area, Bronrott and other Maryland lawmakers passed a set of restrictions on teenage driving.

"We now have a good set of safety laws in place, but we have to get teens and their parents educated on what the rules are," Bronrott said.

One new restriction passed in 2005, for example, forbids teenage drivers from carrying other teens while unsupervised during the first five months after getting a license. According to that rule, the teenage driver in a Charles County accident earlier this month should not have been carrying other youths when the car crashed, killing four La Plata High School students and injuring one. None was wearing a seat belt.

Bronrott proposes a series of statewide campaigns that combine intense enforcement of teenage driving laws with a media blitz. Such campaigns already exist to reduce drunk driving accidents. Bronrott also said he is considering introducing legislation that would impose a stricter curfew on teenage driving at night, when there is a higher chance of accidents. Several of the recent crashes occurred just before and after school hours.

The existing law, part of the 2005 package on teenage driving restrictions, bars teens from driving between midnight and 5 a.m. during the first two years of driving. But after discussions with officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Bronrott said he thinks an earlier curfew for teens -- as early as 9 p.m. -- could save lives.

"But it's like raising the driving age to 18," he said. "I don't know if the political will for that would be there."

Staff writer William Wan and news researcher Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.