New Driving Laws

Car accidents are the number one cause of teen deaths in the United States. New York developed a new law that went into effect today in an effort to reduce the number of teen crashes. Lara Bryn Greenberg reports.

Practice makes perfect.

That's why the state created a new teen driving law that will change the way drivers under the age of 18 acquire a license.

The law now requires teens to have their learner's permits at least 6 months before taking the road test. They must also have 50 supervised hours, fifteen of which must be after dusk. This is a substantial increase from the original 20 hours. Lastly, they can only drive on other young person in the car unless there's adult supervision.

"There's a lot of rushing to do things. Driving shouldn't be one of them," said John Schaefer.

New York created this law because young drivers have too many distractions on the road. The fact of the matter is cell phones and driving don't mix.

"It's like a special culture setup to support attention deficit. And the problem with that is that those behaviors--once learned--become habits and those are habits that can come behind the wheel," said Schaefer.

Schaefer says besides cell phones, music, fatigue, and too many people in the car are the major reasons for teen crashes. The new changes do not apply to drivers who already have their permits.