After Deaths, Area Looks For Fix for Teen Drivers

Ga. Law May Be Model; Tight State Limits Yield Safer Streets

Teenagers howled, and even many parents complained when the tough new driving rules took effect: Teen drivers by the hundreds were barred from the roads after they were caught speeding, racing, driving recklessly, even using fake ID cards to buy alcohol.

But the din in Georgia quieted down once the results became clear. The controversial teen licensing law, one of the most restrictive in the country at the time, led to a dramatic drop in fatalities. Recent studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Emory University found that Georgia's highway death toll for 16-year-old drivers fell by almost 40 percent in the five years since the law was enacted.

As the Washington region deals with the death of 13 teenagers on suburban roads in little more than a month, highway officials, elected leaders and parents are looking around the country for solutions. Georgia's notable success has caught their attention.

"That kind of reduction is monumental, an absolute sea change," said Peter Moe, who coordinates young-driver safety programs for the Maryland State Highway Administration. "We're heading in the right direction in Maryland, but there are things we can, and absolutely should, do to tweak our [licensing requirements]."

Moe was among dozens of state and local officials attending a highway safety summit Friday outside of Baltimore where teen driving was a hot topic. Eight of the nine crashes involving teen drivers in Washington suburbs, and 12 of the 13 fatalities, have been in Maryland.

Georgia lawyer Jimmy Skipper was a state representative 10 years ago when a similar string of high-profile crashes, including two wrecks that killed seven teenagers in suburban Cobb County, created a groundswell to do something about rookie drivers. The result was a law that set new rules, with tough consequences.

"The kids didn't appreciate it very much, and some of the parents came in to fuss at me when little Johnny lost his license," said Skipper, a lawyer who pushed the legislation in the state house. "But I think everyone sees now how well it worked."

Like Georgia, Maryland, Virginia and other states have adopted graduated license programs, granting drivers more independence only as they pass a series of probationary stages. Georgia, like Maryland, requires more time driving with adult supervision, restricts the number of passengers in the car and forbids driving after midnight.

But according to researchers, the Georgia law goes further in two key ways. It denies full freedom to drivers until they are 18. For example, no driver younger than 18 can have more than three underage friends in the car, which one official called the "double-date threshold."

More importantly, it is quick to impose the ultimate punishment on teens caught driving badly, a suspended license. Any teen going 25 mph over the speed limit, for example, is barred from the road for six months.

In the first three months, as many as 300 teenagers in Cobb County had their licenses yanked, according to published reports.

"That's the part that had the biggest impact," said Art Kellerman, a professor of emergency medicine and public health at Emory and lead author of a study of Georgia's program published last year. "If you get caught doing the really stupid things that teenagers do, you can kiss your license goodbye, no exceptions. Your mom and dad are back to schlepping you to McDonald's and school. I think the word of mouth, the humiliation, probably did as much as anything to make this credible among young people."