New teen driving laws take effect today

Effective today, new state driving laws go into effect. These new laws will have a major impact on teen drivers and their parents.
Some changes that were enacted today will:

• Reduce from two to one the number of non-family passengers under age 21 riding in a motor vehicle operated by a junior license holder when not accompanied by a licensed parent or guardian.
• Eliminate the limited use junior license and require that a junior permit be held for at least 6 months before a junior or senior license may be issued.
• Increase the number of supervised driving hours before scheduling a road test from 20 to 50 hours that includes 15 hours of driving after sunset.

(Read More: http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/broch/GDL2010.pdf)

The changes to the law mean that anyone who receives their learners permit next week or beyond will have to wait until at least August to schedule a road test.

Teens must now spend 50 hours in a vehicle being supervised by a driver over the age of 21 before they can apply for their permit. 15 hours must be supervised driving after sunset. Previously, teens only needed to have 20 hours of supervised driving total before scheduling a road test.

The new changes aim to limit the number of distractions to the young drivers, and are meant to enhance their driving in various traffic situations.

Teens are distracted in countless ways behind the wheel, one major issue is having other teens in the car, and that is why the new law will limit the number of passengers who can ride along with new drivers. Studies show that when a 16 year old driver has one friend in the car it increases the risk of a deadly accident by 39%. With two friends it doubles to 86%. When three kids hop into the car with the young driver the risk of a fatal crash jumps to 282%.