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Colorado to be 32nd State to Pass Graduated Driver Licensing

6 May 1999

Colorado to be 32nd State to Pass Graduated Driver Licensing to Save Teen Lives

    WASHINGTON, May 5 -- Colorado will be the latest in a growing
number of states to enact legislation to save the lives of teenagers while
they are learning to drive, AAA said today.
    "The overconfidence and risk-taking behavior that often comes with youth
can lead young drivers into situations they just don't have the skills to
handle," said Colorado Governor Bill Owens, who will sign graduated driver
licensing (GDL) legislation designed to reduce automobile-related deaths and
injuries among Colorado teens.
    "Every day 16 teens are killed on the highway and 1600 injured," said
James Kolstad, AAA vice president for Public and Government Relations. "but
when asked about the most frequent cause of death for teenagers, most people
identify guns, drugs or suicide.  Few recognize that automobile crashes are
the number one cause of death for teenagers."
    AAA reported on the progress of its campaign to reduce the high number of
teen crashes through state laws that require more supervised, behind-the-wheel
driving experience and other restrictions before a full license is granted.
In the past year, 12 states have passed GDL, or teen licensing laws, bringing
the total to 32 states.  Bills are pending in another 12 states and today the
City Council of Washington, D.C. is holding hearings on a GDL bill that would
be one of the strongest in the country.
    AAA's GDL campaign calls on states to enact legislation that would require
novice drivers to progress through three stages:

    * The learner's permit stage, where the notice driver practices basic
      driving skills and safe driving practices under totally supervised
      conditions;
    * A restricted or probationary license stage that allows unsupervised
      driving during lower-risk times of the day; and
    * A full, unrestricted license after the successful completion of stage
      two.

    The 12 new states with GDL or teen licensing laws are New Jersey,
Delaware, Rhode Island, Maine, Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Utah, North
Dakota, South Dakota Arizona and in Colorado, where Governor Owens will sign a
bill shortly.
    As part of AAA's efforts to make teen driving safer, Kolstad said AAA also
is calling for the implementation of uniform driving instructor guidelines to
ensure the education process meets the needs of today's teen drivers.
"According to a recent AAA survey," said Kolstad, "many private and public
driver education instructors are not getting adequate or standardized
training.  As a result, hundreds of thousands of teens are allowed to begin
driving with insufficient knowledge of basic driving techniques."