Minnesota teen licensing changes leave Kansas one of three states without three-stage system

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

TOPEKA -- Effective Aug. 1, the State of Minnesota will join forty-six other states with a three-stage, graduated system of licensing (GDL) for teen drivers, leaving Kansas one of only three states remaining without one, according to James Hanni of AAA Kansas, in a speech to the Topeka Lions Club today.

A bill was introduced in the Kansas Legislature in 2007 that would have given Kansas a nearly model GDL system, which passed the Kansas Senate on a vote of 23-17. The bill was tabled in the House Transportation Committee and the key provisions of the bill later removed in the 2008 session. The GDL system was subsequently reintroduced in the Kansas Senate and passed again, this time on a vote of 34-6. However, the House did not address the measure.

Hanni spoke to the club on the topic of "Reducing Motor Vehicle Crashes, Deaths and Injuries Involving Young Drivers." According to a 2006 study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, in states with three-stage GDL systems, 16-year-old drivers were involved in 11 percent fewer fatal crashes and 19 percent fewer crashes with injuries. Moreover, 16-year-old drivers are involved in 38 percent fewer fatal crashes and 40 percent fewer crashes resulting in injuries if their state has a GDL program with at least five of seven common components, according to the study, Hanni reported.

The seven components, many of which are in place in other states, include:

* A minimum of at least 16 years to receive a learner's permit

* A requirement to hold the permit at least 6 months before receiving a license that allows unsupervised driving.

* A requirement for certification of at least 30 hours of supervised driving practice during the learner stage.

* An intermediate stage of licensing with a minimum entry age of at least 16.

* A nighttime driving restriction for intermediate license holders, beginning no later than 10 p.m.

* A passenger restriction for intermediate license holders, allowing no more than one passenger (except family members).

* A minimum age of 17 years for full, unrestricted licensure.

Along with Kansas, North Dakota, Arkansas and Minnesota have all lacked an intermediate stage of licensing, until this Friday, when Minnesota's new system becomes law. Previously, Minnesota only had a six month learner's permit, with a requirement for certification of 40 hours of adult supervised driving. The minimum age for a learner's permit in Minnesota was 15 and the minimum age for unrestricted licensing was 15.

Under Minnesota's new system, an intermediate stage has been added at age 16, which provides for nighttime driving restrictions and a limitation of one passenger younger than 20 for the first six months. Nighttime restrictions are lifted after six months and passenger restrictions are lifted after one year or as early as age 17.

The only serious error Minnesota made in adopting their new GDL system is in the adoption of an inadequate midnight night driving restriction, according to Hanni in his speech to the Topeka Lions Club. "Minnesota failed to recognize what more and more states who have had midnight restrictions have discovered, that nearly all teen trips and accidents at night occur before midnight, rendering a midnight restriction virtually useless. All the state systems effective in reducing teen car crashes have night driving restrictions that start at 9 or 10 p.m. and run for only six, but an effective six, additional months of continued supervised driving," Hanni said.

Hanni also reported to the Topeka Lions Club the results of a Kansas Teen Driver safety study, indicating both parent and teen approval of GDL and its individual components. "It's overwhelmingly clear to us, from the independent research conducted here and across the country, no matter where you live, rural or urban, parents want the protective tools of GDL to help back them up at the most dangerous time in their child's life," Hanni said. He continued that, "a diminishing number of legislators think changes will inconvenience parents/teens, but most parents understand it, want it and most of their teens understand and approve of the graduated licensing system because they see the danger around them and it makes sense."

"As Minnesota changes its GDL system this week, and it gets down to just North Dakota, Arkansas and our state as the only states remaining who have not addressed this issue adequately, it should say to us, as Kansans who care about their kids, 'it's time ... let's do it right,'" Hanni said.