Most Teen Driver Bills Fail to Advance

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, second from right, had wanted a 10 p.m. curfew for 16-year-olds. He is surrounded by, from left, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House Speaker Michael E. Busch at a signing session Tuesday after the conclusion of the General Assembly. (By Jamie C. Horton -- Associated Press)

"Small changes could make very meaningful differences, life-or-death differences, when it comes to our teen drivers," Bronrott said.

Like Virginia and the District, Maryland has a graduated license program for teenagers, which gives provisional licenses to drivers younger than 18 and grants them more independence only as they pass a series of probationary stages.

Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said he is committed to strengthening the graduated license program and will meet with lawmakers in the interim to educate them about the benefits of tougher restrictions.

"The important part is that it works," Porcari said. "There's a demonstrated reduction in teen fatalities. Some of the specific proposals in this session had merit."

Judie Stone, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said she is disappointed that the most significant teenage driving laws failed. "The nighttime restriction is very important because the earlier, the better," she said. "The optimal time for a nighttime restriction is 10 p.m., and Maryland is inching closer to that."

But that measure did not gain enough support. Legislators opposed to it and other teen driving proposals said such rules should be left to parents, not the government.

"I really believe it's a knee-jerk reaction to something that we have very little control over," said Del. Barbara A. Frush (D-Prince George's), a leader on the House committee that oversees driving laws.

"People are trying to protect kids from something they can't protect them from," Frush added. "It's a whole mentality that children are Teflon-coated, that nothing's ever going to happen to them."

Middleton also introduced an unsuccessful bill to make violations of some existing teen driving laws -- including bans on using cellphones and driving non-family teenage passengers -- primary offenses instead of secondary offenses, meaning police officers could pull over drivers they suspect are violators.

Middleton said the most common concern among his colleagues was a fear that Maryland is becoming an overly intrusive "nanny state."

"What's next?" he said colleagues would ask. "Picking your nose? Are we going to have laws in the books that you can't pick your nose or read a book or put your lipstick on?"

Tougher restrictions can help reduce teen accidents, according to data. Since Maryland created the provisional license program in the late 1990s, the number of teenagers involved in serious crashes dropped by about 74 percent, Porcari said.

Frosh said restrictions on young drivers have an "electrifyingly positive effect on their conduct."

"If you threaten their driver's license, they take that seriously," Frosh said. "We can improve bad behavior by making the consequences of bad behavior crystal clear, especially when we're talking to 16- and 17-year-olds."