AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s secretary of state will bring the latest “Conversation with the Communities,” discussion about youth driver safety to Bangor this week.
The third in a series of events will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17 at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles office in the Airport Mall on Union Street.
Events also will be held Wednesday in Caribou and Thursday in Calais. Those who cannot attend can participate by live online streaming at www.maine.gov/sos.
Secretary of State Charlie Summers said the goal of these conversations is to get people thinking about ways to improve the safety of young drivers, a concern that has made headlines recently for the wrong reasons.
Two teenagers from Southern Maine died in a crash earlier this month. Logan Dam, 19, and Rebecca Mason, 16, both of West Paris, had attended a party shortly before the accident. Police later said alcohol and text messaging by the driver were factors in the crash.
Other recent accidents have claimed the lives of young drivers and passengers, including one in Freedom Township and another in Biddeford this month and a crash last November in Carmel that left two Hermon High School students dead.
Shortly after the West Paris accident, Secretary Summers and Gov. Paul LePage proclaimed January 2012 as “Young Driver Safety Awareness Month,” and announced the “Conversations with the Communities” initiative.
“It is with great sorrow that I express my condolences to the families and friends of the teenagers who were lost in motor vehicle accidents this past weekend throughout the state of Maine,” the governor said in a statement. “I applaud the secretary of state’s efforts to engage parents, educators, students, and community members all across the state about how to better educate our youth on safe driving techniques to avoid these tragedies in the future.”
In an interview on Friday, Summers said the recent horrible events certainly heightened awareness of youth driver safety. He said one of the biggest things the state can do is look at how young drivers can be better educated and better prepared when the get behind the wheel.
Summers said Maine’s driver’s education curriculum, which has not been updated since 1998, is a good place to start.
Once the community conversations are complete, Summers plans to convene a technical review panel to look at potential changes to the curriculum. One change, he said, could include increasing the number of driving hours needed before a teen can take their driver’s license exam. Another could be leveraging federal grants to purchase driving simulators as a way to supplement on-the-road training.
Sarah Beth Campisi, a 15-year-old high school student from Saco, will serve on the technical review panel. Campisi’s mother worked for Summers during his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. House in 2008.
Campisi just finished driver’s education and Summers thought she would bring a much-needed youth perspective.
“I hope that I can get across the attitude that teenagers have: A lot of them don’t take it seriously,” the Thornton Academy sophomore said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “Some people need to see that driving is a privilege.”
Campisi said texting and distracted driving in general are huge problems she sees every day when she leaves school.
Summers said he has the authority to make some changes himself but others might require legislation. He expected that the technical review panel would present its findings to the Legislature’s Transportation Committee sometime during the current session.
You have to be 18 to vote, buy cigarettes, sign contracts, etc.
Why not make the minimum age for a driver’s license 18?
Very easy answer to that one Tom, the State wants the money . Reminds me of the show “American Pickers”, they’ll do anything for a buck.
Why not make it 25 years of age because even at 18 the brain is not fully developed.
Source: http://teenbrain.drugfree.org/science/behavior.html
However, the part of the brain which controls reasoning and impulses – known as the Prefrontal Cortex – is near the front of the brain and, therefore, develops last. This part of the brain does not fully mature until the age of 25.
Rather more important thing for him to work on, than “voter fraud.”
I totally agree with Tom. I have a near 17-year-old son who I wouldn’t put a set of car keys in his hand if anyone’s life depends on it and he doesn’t even have a cell phone for distraction. Easily distracted, would pick up friends I’m sure when it wasn’t legal………….I’m just not going to risk it. 18 should be the age to start a license. Kids now don’t start working (for the most part) until they’re in college. Why give them a car, a gas card and a license to drive? Like I told him, show me something. Sympathy to those who lost loved ones in these recent accidents.
I usually drive my daughter to school. It’s a 12 mile trip, and every morning it’s like the Indy 500 with kids blowing by me doing 70 mph on Rt 22o. I’ve seen teens driving to school playing chicken, racing, and passing on the solid line. Scary stuff!
Sort of like driving into Calais when the Methedone clinic bunch are rushing to not be late.
My kids started working at 15 as did all of their friends.. in what world do kids not work until college?
In this world. In Maine, if you don’t live rurally or know someone who knows someone, it’s virtually impossible for these kids to get jobs before 17-18 years old.
I agree, my kids all started work very young. Babysitting first at 12 with me present to oversee them. Then on to bigger and better paying jobs. As well as volunteer jobs for the animal shelter, soup kitchen and homeless shelter. 4 months out of the year we live very rural (45 miles) and they needed licenses to be able to get to their jobs.
i agree. that’s why i keep my kids tied to bed post. god forbid that i might have actually taught them something.
/jk of course.
So your kid doesn’t work?
In Germany, a license take years and thousands if ‘dollars’ to get.
Only recently have their cars been equipped with cupholders, and then only for the American market because “when driving, you should only drive”.
Glean from that what you will.
My parents had a mercedes when I was very, very young… it had cup holders…. I’m old enough to say that is not “only recently”…..
I was a Mercedes mechanic from ’77 to 2004. I can tell you that the factory didn’t start installing them until the second half of the ’90s. And they were nothing put crappy and inconvenient things for years after that.
Isn’t it Germany that they drive so fast…… Maybe that is why? Those cars are built for speed, no speed limit there if I remember right.
The Germans are very disciplined, we know that. They take their driving seriously, enabling them to drive much faster (though their pile-ups are really spectacular).
The Autobahn was built to a much stronger base thickness than our Interstate system, and being in a less harsh climate than ours, stays in better shape. But the overcrowding has left only certain sections with no speed limits. The Italian Autostrada has gone the same way too, unfortunately.
I think it was Wyoming or Montana that had a ‘prudent and safe’ speed limit until just a few years ago. Too bad that we can’t be trusted to continue that on those long empty roads that are everywhere out West. :(
Let us not forget that MOST of us had our licences at 16, but now we scream for kids to wait until 18. Kids need a little thing called PARENTS! Monitor your kids cell phones and bill. “Hey, why did you receive a call at 7:25 when I know you were on the way to school?” Or… how many outgoing texts have you used (there is a ticker than can count – you will know if its been reset). “ive used 800 as of this morning”. “Great, you don’t need to text on the way to school or at school or on the way home, so show me that ticker when you get here and it had better still say 800″….. Maybe that’s not always do-able, but parents can do more. How often do you get in the car seconds after your kids leave and trail a bit behind them so they can’t see you and watch how they drive? How often do you wait at the corner store to see them drive by after school? Do you know where they are going, who they are with, if there are parents monitoring for alcohol/drug use? Do they have a curfew?
Obviously, accidents happen – even to the most responsible drivers. It is a terribly sad fact. Then, consider the completely avoidable tragedies – but I wonder if we avoid them by not letting our kids drive or by finding a way to teach and monitor more effectively?
While I agree with you that parents need to be involved there are other factors here as well. I don’t know about you, but when I was 16 we never even heard of a cell phone! There are many other changes from then to now too like more traffic, interstates instead of rural roads. Not all kids are responsible, we all know some mature faster and can handle responsibility sooner then others. The human brain continues to grow until we are well into our 20’s. Now the other thing here is that it isn’t just “texting”, it’s distracted driving which comes in many forms and driving under the influence. Communities as a whole need to take an active part in educating young people. Updating the drivers ed course, bringing it back into the school curriculum. Educate them at every level. Car manufacturers need to implement devices to keep the car from starting such as a breathalyzer and/or something that will shut a phone off. We have the technology we need to develop it. What might be deemed an “inconvenience” to some can be a “life saver” for many. We need to find a way to make it socially “unacceptable” for kids to get in the car with ANYONE that is under the influence! Having a license isn’t a RIGHT..it’s something that is EARNED!
“He said one of the biggest things the state can do is look at how young drivers can be better educated and better prepared when the get behind the wheel.”
You can lead a horse to water, but, if texting and alcohol is their choice, count on sending out emergency equipment and funeral directors!
Adults or kids there are always going to be that handful. I know an 82 year old that just last year hit someone drinking and driving. You don’t have to be young to be dumb.
Some of these accidents of late has been caused by OUI’s. How about some of these drivers who killed some of their friends, as part of their punishment go to high school assemblies and tell the student body what it feels like to kill someone by drunken driving. Try to get the message across to the students before they kill someone. It may not get through to all but, if it saves one life it’s worth it!
That would make too much sense. Instead because of one kid’s lack of responsiblity we need to punish all kids. Can you imagine if one Adult got an OUI or a bunch did and they punished all adults? Kids have been driving forever, and every few years they increase the age due to an accident. Pretty soon it will be 25. Heck my they are on our health insurance forever, I guess.
One thing that won’t work is licence testers failing kids over and over for trivial reasons.
One of the biggest problems is the young aren’t being taught to drive. They are being taught to pass the test. How many are being taught how to steer through a skid? How many are being taught what the vehicle are doing when they accelerate and what it takes to make that corner and to stop? Drivers Education is a joke.
I agree. None of my kids knew how to drive after drivers ed. We had standards and we had to teach them to drive. They all had to take their tests with standards that is the rule in our home. If you can drive a standard you can drive anything. My husband spent hours teaching them in snow on back roads first and then all roads. Parents must be proactive.
You can’t legislate morality or intelligence, these accidents will still happen with the age increase the headline will just read 18 year old or 25 year old, tragic it is.
I believe that licenses should be dependent on grades as well as school drop outs. If you drop out, you loose your license. This would give kids an incentive to stay in school. Keeping grades a C and above in order to have a drivers license under the age of 18, would also encourage kids to be responsible. Keeping kids in school is key to educating our future. Responsible grades, shows responsible kids, usually. I know this isn’t always the case.
While I agree with you that parents need to be involved there are other factors here as well. I don’t know about you, but when I was 16 we never even heard of a cell phone! There are many other changes from then to now too like less traffic, rural roads instead of Interstates. Not all kids are responsible, we all know some mature faster and can handle responsibility soone r then others. The human brain continues to grow until we are well into our 20’s. Now the other thing here is that it isn’t just “texting”, it’s distracted driving and driving under the influence. The communities as a whole need to take an active part in educating young people. Updating the drivers ed course, bringing it back into the school curriculum. Educate them at every level. Car manufacturers need to implement devices to keep the car from starting such as a breathalyzer and/or something that will shut a phone off. We have the technology we need to develop it. What might be deemed an “inconvenience” to some can be a “life saver” for many. We need to find a way to make it socially “unacceptable” for kids to get in the car with ANYONE that is under the influence! Having a license isn’t a RIGHT..it’s something that is EARNED!
It sure does have to be earned, 500 bucks worth. Poor kids have a hard time with that, and we, as a state, would be better served having a high school based drivers ed program. I wonder if insurance companies would pay for that?
40 some years ago two kids in my high school class got killed in car accidents. We didn’t have the nanny state with all of those seat belt and driver’s ed rules. We had little cars that went fast, on bald tires because the state had just started vehicle inspections the year before. In America 18,000 more people died on the road in 1967 than last year, with 50 million more drivers. A lot of times when a driver pulls out in front of me, or takes a left turn in front of me, its one of my 50,60,70-year old brethren who just never did learn how to drive.