Essay #2-First Draft: Teenage Drivers

Teenage Drivers-Whose responsibility is it to teach them safe driving?

One of the most anticipated rights of passage for teenagers is getting their learner’s permit and then their driver’s license. It’s a sense of pride-both for the teenager and their parents. For the teenager it means freedom. Freedom to drive to school, the mall, movies, sporting events, after school activities, dances and work. It gives them the freedom to see their friends, boyfriends and girlfriends. It’s the freedom to be cool. For the parents it’s the freedom of not driving their teenager to school and all of their activities, the freedom to send their teenage driver to the store to pick up a few forgotten items. It’s the next step to adulthood- or is it? With all of this freedom come the responsibilities of being a driver of a 3,000-pound, moving, mass of steel.

Although the State of Alaska has one of the toughest set of laws for teen drivers in the country, it should fund mandatory driver's education classes in high schools because car crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens, teenagers do not understand the dangers of driving with friends, cell-phones or the importance of wearing their seat belts at all times, and parents may not be able to afford the driver's education classes available through private businesses.

The State of Alaska laws for teenage drivers are some of the toughest in the country. Under Alaska Statute AS 28.15.055 (1/1/99) & AS 28.15.057 (1/1/05) the following applies to anyone under the age of 18:

Anyone 14 years and older can apply for a learner’s permit. Anyone 16 and older not buckled up can be sited and fined. They must pass a written test, must be accompanied by someone age 21 and over that has a minimum 1 year of driving experience along with a valid driver’s license. A teen 16 and older can apply for a provisional driver’s license as long as they have had a learner’s permit for at least 6 months and have had no infractions. If they do have traffic citations numbering 6 or more point within 12 months or 9 or more in 24 months they must attend a nationally certified defensive driving course, if they do not take the course the DMV can suspend their driving privilege. Their legal guardian or parent must provide proof that they have had at least forty (40) hours of driving experience including at least ten (10) hours of driving in challenging weather conditions (rain and snow) and nighttime driving. (1)

The State of Alaska also has the following restrictions for the provisional licensee up to the age of 18 “You MAY NOT carry passengers under the age of 21, except siblings,” and “You MAY NOT operate a motor vehicle between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am.”(2)

Alaska has also just passed a no texting while driving law that will have the most effect on the teenage driver.

Once a teenager has passed the provisional licensing period, they may apply for a regular license. But are they ready and is this enough? Are teenagers ready intellectually and emotionally to face the responsibilities? Questions arise as to how much time should a teenager have behind the wheel before they become a licensed driver? How old should a teenager be? Sixteen? Seventeen? Whose responsibility is it to ensure that we have safe teen drivers? With the State of Alaska pulling the funding for Driver’s Education, the onus has fallen on the parents and the teens themselves.

These questions are raised with good reason. According to the insurance industry the numbers are staggering. Vehicle accidents are the #1 killer of teenagers in this country. In a comprehensive report in the August 2008 Readers’ Digest Magazine, “Each year over 5,000 teenagers die on America’s highways each year.” (3) Why? Because “anytime you have immaturity combined with inexperience, you have the potential for disaster, “ says Nicole Nason, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”(4)

Distractions are a major cause of teen accidents. Fiddling with the radio, loud music, talking or texting on their cell phones, having other passengers in the car with them; speeding, drinking and driving, falling asleep at the wheel are all dangers the teenage driver can face. All of these increase the risk of an accident happening. All it takes is one second to look away, one second of lost concentration for an accident to happen. Surprisingly, a majority of the teens do not see these as being dangerous distractions. A sense of “it won’t happen to me” is prevalent. They are not experienced enough to know how to react or more likely how not to react to a situation while driving. These distractions cause most of the accidents recorded on teenage drivers but the biggest killer of teenage drivers is not wearing their seatbelts. Alaska thankfully has a no-nonsense approach to the wearing of seatbelts. While this is a good start, we need to do more to ensure that our teenagers are ready for the road.

Schools in Alaska used to have a mandatory driver’s education class for all high school students. The students were taught in a classroom with simulators and then drove with the driving instructor. They were taught how to drive in inclement weather, how to handle a spin, how to change a tire; they were even taught the parts to a car engine and what might cause problems. But that ended in the early 1980’s. Up until 1984-1986 the State Education had a line item in the budget for funding Driver’s Education classes. After that they pulled the funding and it was up to the School Districts themselves to fund the program. When the “No Child Left Behind” act came about, there was grant money to help with the fees in after schools programs but the schools were mandated to help those who were having problems with passing school, not to help those who were becoming teenage drivers.

Now the only choice parents have is to put their teen through the privately owned driving schools. With the economic troubles that parents are now facing, the fees that range from $395-$500 can be too much. These schools offer in class sessions that cover safety, rules of the road, safety maneuvers, and technical aspects of driving a vehicle. They also have 8 hours of driving time with a trained instructor. After a student has taken the course they can then for another $50 take the drivers test. For those fortunate enough to be able to afford these schools, they can be somewhat comforted that their teen driver will be a safer driver. There is also an added benefit in that some insurance companies will offer a lower rate because of the training.

Given the fact that the State of Alaska has a huge budget, we need to write our legislatures, our governor, our schools and ask that the funding be reinstated for driver’s education classes. We need to have that line item put back into the budget. We need to have safe drivers on our highways.

What can be more important that saving our children’s lives? Having mandatory classes will help train teenagers for the responsibilities that go with driving a motorized vehicle.


Work cited:
(1)www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/ADMIN/dmv/ako/teenlaw.htm
(2) www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/ADMIN/dmv/ako/teenlaw.htm
(3) Special Report: The Dangers of Teen Driving, By Joseph K. Vetter with Fran Lostys, Reader’s Digest, August 2008 Issue
(4) Special Report: The Dangers of Teen Driving, By Joseph K. Vetter with Fran Lostys, Reader’s Digest, August 2008 Issue