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Pennsylvania Teen Driving Laws Get Tougher
Pennsylvania is cracking down on teen driving safety as shown by the newest teenage licensing laws recently passed.
January 19, 2012 /Industry PR News/ -- Experience. Most professional jobs require it whether it's obtained through internships, apprenticeships or jobs. Why should driving, a task requiring great skill, be any different?
Pennsylvania Teen Driving Law Changes
Pennsylvania is cracking down on teen driving safety as shown by the newest teenage licensing laws recently passed. The licensing laws increase requirements teenagers must satisfy in order to earn the privilege to drive. For example, teenagers under eighteen will have to get fifteen more hours of driving experience before becoming eligible for a full license. The current requirement is sixty-five driving hours.
Also, a measure somewhat unique to Pennsylvania is that teenagers will be limited in the amount of passengers allowed in the car when no parent or guardian is with the teenage driver. In the first six months of the permit process, a teenage driver can only have one person in the car with them. After six months of driving with a permit, teenage drivers can have up to three passengers with them. The idea behind the passenger restriction, of course, is to prevent as many distractions as possible for inexperienced drivers.
Teenagers are particularly at risk of hurting themselves and others in car crashes because they lack driving experience. Other factors also include:
- Texting
- Talking on a cell phone
- Listening to loud music
- Not fully understanding the rules of the road
- Underestimating dangerous situations
- Speeding
- Being distracted by passengers
Restricted driving programs are an attempt to have teenage drivers gain more experience before driving regularly, and restrictions like Pennsylvania's are also an attempt to establish good driving habits.
Additional Safeguards to Reduce the Risks of Teen Driving
Good driving behavior is also enforced by parents, too. Although, a teenage driver can have any licensed driver with them while driving with a permit, oftentimes, this licensed driver is a parent or guardian. Requiring supervised driving is an opportunity for parents to observe the driving style of their teenagers and correct any bad habits, for example, like using cell phones while driving.
Driver's education courses are also helpful to teach teen drivers how to assess risks and what the rules of the road require. Pennsylvania acknowledges the role of these courses by granting seventeen-year-olds full driving privileges after having completed a driver's ed course (in addition to everything else). Otherwise, a teen driver will have to wait until they reach the age of eighteen.
Car accidents can wreak havoc in the lives of the people that are involved in them. Car crashes can cause a number of injuries including head trauma, spinal injuries and broken bones, rack up large medical bills, put people out of work for long periods of time and can even permanently disable or kill someone. Thus, victims of car crashes and the families of those who die in them are entitled to recover from someone who has driven negligently or carelessly and from their insurance companies if they are insured drivers. This includes teenage drivers.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of car crashes is highest among drivers aged 16 to 19; these drivers are four times more likely to get into an accident. In 2009, car crashes killed 3,000 teenagers and injured 300,000. According to the National Safety Council, if all fifty states passed laws like Pennsylvania's, over 2,000 lives and $13 billion would be saved every year. The CDC explains that these licensing programs can prevent up to 40 percent of fatal and injurious crashes among 16-year-old drivers.
Article provided by Silvers, Langsam & Weitzman, P.C.
Visit us at www.slwlawgroup.com
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