PORTLAND, Maine — If teenagers think it’s tough to get a driver’s license now, just wait.
Maine’s secretary of state is developing new rules that would make it harder and more time-consuming for young drivers to get their licenses. Some of the rules could be in place by the end of March.
Drivers between 16 and 24 make up about 11 percent of Maine’s licensed drivers but are involved in 29 percent of the state’s motor vehicle deaths and 38 percent of injuries, said Secretary of State Charlie Summers. Since Christmas, eight crashes involving young drivers have killed 12 people. The goal, Summers said, is to make roads safer by better preparing young drivers.
Proposals under consideration include increasing the number of hours teens must spend behind the wheel to get an intermediate license or setting an earlier curfew for when they must be off the road. Another would double, from six to 12 months, the time they must hold an intermediate license before they can get an unrestricted license.
“We’re licensing a young person who doesn’t necessarily have a lot of experience to drive a [4,000-] or 5,000-pound piece of steel at, if you’re going north of Bangor, 75 mph,” Summer said. “The far-reaching effects of some bad decisions by these young people can hurt not only them and their families, but whole communities.”
Teenagers will probably agree with some of the proposals and be resistant to others, said 15-year-old Sarah Beth Campisi, a sophomore at Thornton Academy in Saco who has a driver’s permit. Age also creates a division in their opinions, she said.
“My older friends or friends my age don’t mind as much because it’s not affecting us since a majority of us already have permits,” Campisi said. “But my younger friends panicked because they didn’t want to deal with that much more work. They want it to be easy and a piece of cake. They don’t understand it’s serious and that driving isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.”
To get a driver’s license in Maine, students have to go through several steps.
First comes a permit, which teens can get if they’re 15, have taken 30 hours of driver’s education and passed a written test.
Next is an intermediate license. To get one, permitted drivers must complete 35 hours of practice driving with a supervising driver who’s at least 20 and had a license for at least two years. Five of the hours must be at night. Then, after six months, they must pass a road test. They also have to be at least 16.
Teens with intermediate licenses have some freedoms. They can drive alone, with family members or with licensed drivers over 20, but not with fellow teenagers. And they can’t drive between midnight and 5 a.m. or use a cellphone while driving.
Finally comes an unrestricted license. Teens who’ve had an intermediate license for 180 days can get one. During the first two years with that license, a driving violation means they automatically lose their driving privileges for 30 days.
To get ideas for which licensing rules need reworking, Summers held six public meetings this month across Maine.
A panel made up of law enforcement, driver’s education instructors, an insurance industry representative, state officials and a student will meet Feb. 8 and two or three times after that to draft recommendations. Summers said he will probably implement some of the proposals, possibly by the end of March. He’ll pass on other ideas to the Legislature’s transportation committee.
Summers supports requiring teens to log at least 70 hours of practice driving, rather than 35, and drive more at night before getting an intermediate license. He also thinks the minimum age of supervising drivers should be 25, not 20, while students hold permits.
He also backs a 10 p.m. curfew, rather than midnight, and increasing the length of time for an intermediate license to a full year from six months. That way, he said, students will drive under supervision in four seasons of weather conditions before being given an unrestricted license.
Other ideas under discussion include requiring students to take an online course about traffic signage and other driving basics so they can devote more time to on-the-road driving in driver education courses. Some have raised the possibility of making permitted drivers have 100 hours of practice driving to get an intermediate license or raising the permit age to 16.
The main goal is to have teenagers get more experience behind the wheel while under the watchful eye of an adult before they take to the street on their own, said Marvin Campbell, operations manager with Mullen’s Driving School and a member of the panel that’s exploring the issue.
“A lot of driving is about experience,” he said. “This is like on-the-job training.”
Campisi, who serves as a student representative on the panel, said she likes the idea of spending more time driving in all weather conditions before she moves on to an unrestricted license. But teenagers are likely to balk at a 10 p.m. driving curfew, she said.
Campisi’s older brother and sister both worked at an Old Orchard Beach soda shop when they had permits in years past, but often didn’t arrive home at night until 10:30 or sometimes later, she said. The curfew change could be burdensome for teenagers, their parents and businesses that rely on teens for jobs.
“That’s going to have unintended consequences against businesses and hurt the economy,” she said. “There has to be a balance.”
Teenagers well always feel invinsible no matter what the laws will be. It’s call living life. All of these “senseless deaths. It’s called the innonocense of a child. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child at any point in ones life, but with all the laws …………….this senseless act will never change.
sad but true!
Sarah Beth Campisi seems to be possessed of an extraordinary amount of common sense.
So the same administration that wants teens to be allowed to work until midnight on a school night does not want them driving after 10? Seems like it defeats the purpose.
teens still in school should not be working til midnight. i know i couldnt work past 9pm on school nights 15yrs ago.
Teens can’t work past 10 I believe…at least that was the rule for me….This would be the conflict in curfew…Also the fact that they were trying to increase teens to work until 11pm causes a conflict as well…
You’re not thinking deeply enough. Under the GOP/Tea Party these children can work longer hours and get paid a “Learning Wage.” Guess who’s left with no jobs and driving them to and from their slave labors? Yep, their unemployed parents. By the way Mr. LePage where are all those jobs you promised to create for all those put out of work by the Bush recession?
If that is the case then I would say the parents should have studied harder for a better education if you think they are going to get replaced by some teenager.
If you are suggesting that the best that the working people of this State can hope for is to compete with their teenage kids for minimum wage jobs, then its already too late for us.
With these guys, they always have big plans, it is always some thing, one thing or another, having to do with the barely legal, huh ?
The should put that much time and energy into increasing the States revenue
… like by creating jobs.
This is exactly what I was thinking!
“So the same administration that wants teens to be allowed to work until midnight on a school night does not want them driving after 10? Seems like it defeats the purpose.”
It makes one wonder if these people in the LePage Administration even talk to each other ?
Charlie Summers should start acting like a Republican. A few idiots ruin it for the rest.
So he wants even more restrictions so kids cant work part time jobs. Get a clue Charlie, you cant legistlate common sense. Dont penalize 99% of the kids because of a few clueless apples!
99%, are you nuts? There have been a lot more accidents lately in teenagers! Get a clue people!
Sorry pal, maybe your kids were irresponsible, but the vast majority are not and thinking more government intrusion is the solution is always the stupid liberal mantra.
More driver training to improve their skills is a good thing, but is it totally in the hands of the parents, if mommy and daddy want jr to drive the lexus into the tree after the ballgame, so be it. But some responsible kids have jobs and it would be nice if Uncle Charlie would bud out and let them work if they choose to. I guess only a communist country would have a 10 Oclock curfew for some teen trying to work a part time job!
That’s right! Deal with the ones breaking the laws. Losing a license for 30 days is a joke. How about 6 months to a year? Punish them, don’t spank them on the hand!
Should this say: Pursuing stricter; etc. meaning to gain or accomplish; etc.
OR pursing; a pouch or bag???
Yes, we all make misstakes…mistakes, right?
What a stupid conclusion. I got my license when I was 15 years old and I have never had a accident. How many young people do drive safely on our road with out accidents as apposed to the few who are irresponsiable?
Being Irresponsible has nothing to do with it. It’s being INEXPERIENCED. I got my license at 19. I’ve always been a responsible teen (and now adult at 29) and I still had my first car accident at 21 due to my lack of experience driving in slush. It is important that these kids have an ample amount of experience on the road in all conditions under the supervision of a qualified adult before they are allowed to spread their wings alone. It will prevent many future accidents. I personally would rather see the 35 required ours of permit driving go up to 140…which when my kids are old enough, I will require them to have before I allow them to go have their drivers test. I for one will NOT lose my children to their own inexperience. That’s why I’m a parent, it is my job to prepare them properly (no matter the minimum requirements presented in the law) before they are left to face the world.
The stats say different & you and the few may be exceptional, but let’s do something positive to reduce the carnage.
There are more kids at 15 who are NOT ready yet than there are kids who are ready… It should be upped to 16…
Personally I think the driving age should be upped to 18; 50% of the students in my school who bring their cars in do not work – its for convenience; also think of the gas it would save.
….
He is one them.
Hey Charley, leave them kids alone !
How do you ascertain they have 35 or 100 hours of any driving?
Again – its back to the parents.
It is pretty obvious when you see a teen behind the wheel with their permit how many hours they have driven.
Really, you can tell how many hours someone with a permit has driven? How?
When I got my permit I drove everyday for the six weeks it took me to get my license (I applied for the license the day I got my permit and passed first time). My sister, on the other hand took a year to get her permit (driving scared her for the longest time and took two test to pass her driving test) and she most likely had not driven as much in that year as I did in the six weeks I had one.
So how can you tell how many hours a person has behind the wheel by looking at them?
This will effect rural kids so much more than suburban people. My kids traveled 20 miles to high school (their public school) and making licenses more difficult would mean a lot more parent miles/time for kids to compete in sports or do extracurricular activities, let alone work.
Since I was a kid, the adjusted cost to attend U Maine has gone up 600% when adjusted for the annual cost of living. Kids need to be able to work, they just need better parenting and I don’t either think Tea Party Charlie Webster or Summers and their bunch are going to help these kids a bit. (Nor do they care, they don’t even want young people to vote).
Why not simply make it illegal for teens to have their cellphone(s) on when driving or would that be too simple.
and how do you suppose they impose that?
Wake up it is illegal! While they have their permit and while they have their intermediate license! And Maine now makes it illegal for life because of the distracted driver law! Have you been violating the law ?
NO ……………………………. Have “YOU”????
Thats what New Brunswick has done for ALL drivers! A postive move and insurance rates have droped!
This item will trigger a host of self congratulatory “what a stupid idea – I’ve been driving since pre-pubescence and haven’t had an accident,” blah, blah ….. Fine and dandy, but if all those flawless drivers had to have waited a few more months it wouldn’t have changed anything, except to have made them wait a bit. Nonetheless, when a mere 11% can be counted on to kill and maim themselves and others in percentages far higher than their own portion of total drivers, it isn’t foolishness to suggest something which just might bring those percentages down. We all know the tendency of teens and young adults to think of themselves as invulnerable. We all know reasoning ability generally lags behind physical maturity. We’ve been through it ourselves, but just because most of us have been lucky enough to survive is no reason to consider it some sort of rite of passage. If only teens and immature adults were allowed on the road that would make a wacky sort of sense: let them prune their numbers through their own lack of restraint. That’s a ridiculous suggestion of course, but it so happens that public byways are everyone’s conduits, so anything to make them safer for all of us is surely worth serious consideration. Now that child labor is back in vogue, it may happen that a heightened bar will require some family participation when it comes time for children to report for work. There will be other rationalizations for keeping things unchanged, but they are not good reasons to toss Sumner’s proposal aside. For the longer haul we must direct more resources and planning in efficient public transportation to help wean us from a system of private conveyance which is as often a nuisance as it is a blessing. But that’s another argument for another item.
Make penalties for texting or cell phone use to $1000 for the first incident… Not only for new, young drivers, but all drivers… Deaths will decrease by 25 to 50 %, especially those caused by young drivers…
Why not have drivers ed as a part of the high school curiculum, like it use to be – fail the course you are another year trying to get your license. This should be done in addition to the above changes. It will not only protect everyone on the road, it will drop our insurance rates as we will have safer better trained drivers.
Never mind passing Drivers Ed, get 100% or fail! I think it’s that important!
Do you want to teach kids or discourage kids – When was the last time you rec’d 100% on a course?
Do you want to approach an intersection with someone else who doesn’t know if they’re suppose to yield or not? I don’t! There were many times while in the military (and other training/jobs) that I got a “no go” and had to start over. It taught me to pay better attention and study more. This “Everyone Wins” attitude today ain’t right. Some win and some lose. If you lose, don’t get discouraged… just strive to do better until you get it right!
No problem with 100% on a written test. Should be a little more leway on a road test.
I agree! 100% on the written exam. I think it would be a good idea for adults to re-take a written exam when they renew their license, also having to get 100%. Hey, the laws are constantly changing. I can’t believe how many adults [that I know personally] who’ve been driving for many years don’t know the rules of the road.
problem is not everyone can afford the $500 for the course. :(
Thats why it should be offered as a highschool course, as it use to be a few years ago.
Please remember – driving is not a “right”; it is a privilege regulated by the state. And not everyone who is under 18 needs to drive.
I was not able to access the State’s stattistics and had to rely on national statistics but based on these I would usrge a closer review of Mr Summers’s proposals.
For statistical proof of the problem Mr Summers chose the range of 16 to 24 year olds who which would seem to indicate a disportionate percentage of the accidents. This is somewhat substantiated by national statistics. Those between 16 and 19 have 12% of the accidents and those between 20 and 24 have 15 % of the accidents.
Mr Summers appears to be attempting to shift this disportionate amount of accidents to the first time drivers. However in the national statiatics in the 16 to 19 yr old group those 18 and 19 had the bulk of the accidents. This would suggest that the problem is not with the youngest drivers of the age group but with those who seem to by age to have it under command due to their experience. Oh yeah the group with the largest % of accidents ? At 19.8 % those between 25 and 34.
Let’s take a closer look at Mr Summers’s data before getting to harsh on the 16 – 17 yr olds. No doubt they could use more experience but I am not sure his methods justify the ends.
Oh yeah and I have had my license for 46 years and my share of accidents.
This guy can’t seem to forebear from regulating the bejusus out of the areas where the people interface with government. Given the fact that he is politically beholden to real hard core worshipers of individual rights (they say) how is this possible?
To the guys political credit, he focuses that on people too young to vote, I’ve noticed.
unfortuantely even if they do pass all these changes does not neccessarily mean it will make a difference. teens like to show off for their friends so these changes wont change that fact. i know there are both an equal amount of responsible teens driving and irresponsible teens driving. i also dont think a lot of them get the proper teaching during harsh weather conditions and that is a major factor in teens and accidents lately. they likely was like me and get their permits/licenses during spring/summer/fall months then comes winter and they havent had the opportunity to get a real feel for driving in the winter conditions. i think a lot of student driving training should take place or be required during nov-mar months where they have a better opportunity to deal with the snow.
Part of the plan to create jobs and increase fees. Charlie, why don’t you just come out and say” give us five grand and we will issue you a license.” If you would spend a bit more time enforcing the laws we have on illegal aliens and out of state people claiming residence here but still driving on their out of state registration and drivers license and leave our teenagers alone it would be more fruitful.
The first proposal will require them to register as ROBthePUBLICans.
The course is a joke! 3 kids in one car for 1 hour counts as an hour for each kid! Hello wow that must be some special car 3 driver’s at once!!
There was a time when cars didn’t have to go 200 mph and be super charged, just like snowsleds, etc. And there was a time when kids had some respect for their parents and other people. That seems to be a problem these days so giving them their own vehicle and a phone they can text on (since it seems EVERY parent has to make sure their kids as young as 6 or 7 have a PHONE) is not working well. Time to rethink and demand more competency and respect. Good for you Charlie Summers.
I have to disagree with this proposal. If we decide kids can drive at 16, then let them drive after some suitable training–such as a driver’s ed course and 2o hours of drive time with an instructor. And let’s make it part of the school curriculum. If we think 16 year olds can’t be trusted to drive a car then let’s just not license people until 18.
Why can’t it be up to the parents to put the restrictions in place? As a parent of teens, I check to see where my teen is going, with whom and set a return time. I evaluate whether or not the trip is within their driving ability. So, if my 16 year old says, hey–I am going to head to Florida with my buddy, the answer is no. You can go to the movies in Bangor instead—and be home by 11 PM.
The problem is, not all parents are responsible enough to do this. I know a few teenagers who are more responsible than a few of the 30 yo’s I know. Sad but true.
Cannot believe I am writing this…but finally, something upon which I agree with Charlie Summers!
More experience, more education, more stringent rules on teen drivers. Yes! Not to discriminate, but it is just reality, if you have less experience, you will do worse in a dangerous situation. Not that we really have any dangerous situations on the roads of Maine…but still.
(Maybe we should be testing the 26, 36, 46, etc. years olds too? Imagine: an “course about traffic signage.” Could you pass that?)
Education and testing cannot replace experience, but if you are staying conscious about your driving behavior, you will do better, be less anxious about driving in iffy conditions, but at the same time drive more focused when conditions are bad–congestion, late nights when drunks are out, ice, rain, snow, fog, friends in the rear seat, etc. etc.
Crashes are preventable. Prevention is not an accident. No such thing as “accidents.”
ac·ci·dent noun ˈak-sə-dənt, -ˌdent; ˈaks-dənt
Definition of ACCIDENT1
a : an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance b : lack of intention or necessity : chance 2
a : an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance b : an unexpected and medically important bodily event especially when injurious c : an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured but for which legal relief may be sought d —used euphemistically to refer to an involuntary act or instance of urination or defecation 3: a nonessential property or quality of an entity or circumstance How about that, There is such a things as “accidents”
“…an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance…”
Exactly what LACK OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION for young drivers is NOT.
Those are very foreseeable and should be planned circumstances. We as a society owe it to them, and those of us sharing the road with them to get them, the very best start in driving. It should happen in school, every school.
I am reminded of a radio show, where a woman calls up for suggestions about teaching her son driving herself, because she doesn’t want to pay a school to do it:
“Lady, your kid has been learning how to drive from you since he was a baby. You think he doesn’t see if you drive without a seat belt, or you don’t bother to signal before a turn, if you think it is OK to talk on the phone and drive at the same time? He has learned all those habits from you already. Pay up, and get him someone who will help him unlearn all those bad habits.”
The problem with reading a dictionary is you need to know how to read it. A dictionary won’t tell you specifically whether a particular definition is correct or incorrect, only whether how a particular word is used. Thus, words can have several definitions.
You have chosen to focus on the third definition lfor “accident.” Because it’s the third definition, it’s not as common a definition as the first definition, which is the accepted definition.
Transportation officials will rarely, if ever, call anything an “accident.” Instead, they refer to “crashes.” This is because, unless a rock from space hits your car, your crash was foreseen.
It’s raining hard and you hydroplane on the interstate and go off the road? Very much foreseeable. You were driving too fast.
Snow flies off the vehicle in front of you and slams onto your windshield, causing you to lose control of your vehicle? Very much foreseeable: The vehicle in front of you had excessive snow on it and you were too close.
You drive over a nail and your tire blows and you lose control, going off the road. Again, very much foreseeable. C’mon, who doesn’t foresee that a nail in the road is going to puncture a tire? This doesn’t mean it’s your fault; it simply means that it was foreseeable. (It’s possible you over-corrected when your tire blew and therefore you compounded the problem.)
There should be someway for police to identify those drivers who have only had thier licence for less than six months. I see a lot of new drivers having kids who are too young in their cars. It’s a law that is broken many times every day.
Is this another solution in search of a problem? Instead of creating yet another reason for people to drive without a license, how about raising the penalties for people–of all ages–who do. I’m more worried about them than otherwise responsible teenagers.
“Is this another solution in search of a problem? ”
Yes, and it what these people do because it so much easier than finding solutions to real problems.
Oh, this is hardly something the Rs have cornered the market on.
So ?
Does that change the fact that this is a specialty of the LePage Administration,
… with how many examples in the past year ?
So what is your point really, beside posting a knee jerk, illogical reaction,
that only makes sense if you are an weak apologist NOW, for what you just said was
a wasteful effort , BEFORE ?
What is wronge with a govenor on a car driven by a teen. Trucking companies put them on their trucks.
Lie page wants em to work and this fool doesn’t want them to drive, WTF is wrong with this administration? I wonder if they communicate at all.?
Start with taking cell phones away!!
@ StillRelaxin……He got you a job didn’t he!
Yes, I heard that teens with licenses are fraudently voting, for shame! the problem is not the amount of education, but the distracted driving. Ban cell phones in cars for all people and really fix the problem
Are you sure it’s not inexperienced drivers rather than younger drivers causing a majority of accidents. It takes years of practice to get good at something. Practice makes perfect.
When I was a teenager I thought I was a better driver when other people were in the car teenagers or not. I was responsible for all those lives. When it was me myself and I, it would only be me that is affected.
Also, it may be fine and dandy to make it harder to get a license in the city. There is piblic transportation, and many necessities are considered within walking distance. I kow young peers who got their licenses early so their parents wouldn’t have to drive them back and forth, in and out of town etc. My parents pushed me to get license for the same reason. Should h
Have known this idea would come from someone from southern Maine.
What is the concern with night driving? There are less cars to get into an accident with. How about some snow driving?
I believe it is a 40 hour course with a test to get permit.
What about the 16 year old kid who on the very day he/she gets a Class C driver’s license, which basically is for most vehicles less than 26,001 pounds? This young non-experienced driver can legally jump in a 69,000 pound truck loaded with potatoes that has farm plates on it and drive that up and down the road?
Maine laws say that the maximum registered weight of a farm truck is 69,000 pounds. The Secretary of State shall issue registration plates to distinguish a farm truck from a commercial vehicle. A Class C license authorizes person to operate registered farm motor trucks bearing the letter “F” on the registration plate when the vehicle is controlled and operated by a farmer, including operation by the farmer’s employees or family members; used to transport agricultural products, farm machinery or farm supplies to or from a farm; not used in the operation of a common or contract motor carrier; and used within 150 miles of the registered owner’s farm.
What a joke. This administration seeks to solve problems that don’t exist in order to ignore the problems they don’t know how to solve.
Great politics, poor legislation. I have lived in States with all the above proposals (except the on-line course) and the only place I have seen legislation knock down the number of teenage deaths is when New York mandated school based driver’s education courses.
I would suggest starting school-based drivers education in the eighth grade (age 14) the first year being all books and classroom work. The second year being on road experience with teachers and homework (driving with parents).
I understand the late night curfew, and had one of those when I was a young driver. I also thing that Summers idea of a year of supervised driving experience is solid. BUT 14 and 14 and 15 year olds are far more open to suggestion and instruction in this area than are 16 year olds.
I also believe that the “restrictions” should apply to ALL first time drivers, not just the young ones.
Ok let me ask you this say a 30 year old person in getting there first license dose the same thing go for them ??
If Charles Summers was a Democrat Secretary of State in the administration of a Democrat Governor then many of the posters would either not be posting or be going on about how much the administration cared about kids and wanted to keep them safe. However Mr. Summers is a Republican who works in the administration of Paul LePage. Therefore his proposals are nothing but pure evil and hypocrisy.
Make it somewhat harder to get a license-make it 10 times harder to keep it if you abuse the privelage of having it.
I think there is another step that should be taken. Any driving offense by someone holding one of these conditional licences should suffer extreme revocations of chargeable offenses. The more severee teh more thepenalty. Illegal use of xdrigs adn alcohol by underaged drivders caught shoudl be sent a defianite extrememessage that it is not ok to drive, drink and or use drugs adn phones . Harshere sentencing for teh ‘mature’ drivers in those same offenses.
Id like to see the age limit raised to 17…..and I think parents should be held a little more accountable for the teens actions. Parents who let their kids drive after they have caught them or have been informed by someone that the kid is doing something wrong behind the wheel are just as irresponsible as the kid. Im sure if some digging was done it would scare you to know how many parents knew their kid was an usafe driver prior to an accident!!
There is no silver bullet that will fix all the issues with teen accidents. Mr Summer’s is trying to determine a way to better educate and provide more experience to our youth before turning them loose on the Maine roads.
I agree that teen driving is an issue and many are getting killed on Maine roads needlessly. However, a quick review of today’s paper has several articles about people that were in accidents in the last week that were not teens. Focus of the board should be expanded to look at all the driver demographics because the people that were killed this past week also were killed needlessly.
Vehicle accidents on Maine roads over the past week included a 70 year old male killed because of falling asleep and the 58 year old woman who rolled her car also by falling asleep. There was also a 36 year old male who was a habitual offender and barred from driving in 2007 but he was still able to kill himself and an 80 year old woman last week. He did it while passing on a double yellow line on icy conditions while speeding.I am not a member of the board but would like to provide my views on some of the topics of discussion that the board should be addressing.The first thing I would like to recommend is greater enforcement of Maine driving laws and increasing the penalty for convictions. There is something wrong when someone can get 12 operating under the influence charges and nine operating after revocation charge. BDN Nov 16, 2011. At least this time he received 6 years in prison, most likely will be out in two. Hopefully his 13th OUI charge will not include killing someone.
The second thing I would like to recommend is passing a law that requires drivers to pull over and stop if you are talking on a cell phone. The law on texting is a good start but does not go far enough. Try spending an hour watching a busy street every day for a week and count drivers on the phone or texting. It will amaze you. Picture this discussion between a driver and law enforcement. No officer, I was not texting, I was dialing my phone and that’s not against the law.
The third thing that I would like to recommend is to look at the domino effect that any new law may create. There are several consequences that may occur as a result of the suggested changes for teen drivers. If the cost of driver education exceeds the amount people can pay then there will be potential of kids waiting until they graduate and turn 18 to get there license where they do not need drivers ed. This will decease the experience level of the drivers. Another consideration, if the amount of time a student has to wait before they can drive their friends is increased, then you will see an increase in the amount of students driving their friends illegally. Anyone that thinks all students are waiting for the 6 month limit to expire before they drive their friend is sadly mistaken. Lastly, the only verification for meeting the driving time requirements is the word of the supervising driver. By increasing the amount of time required or the age of the supervising driver could impact the ability for quality driving time with an available adult.
There have been many changes in Maine driving law over the years that has created a positive impact on our roads. Mr Summers is working to make our Maine roads even safer. I applaud his attempt but in the end, people who break the law are still going to break the law regardless of the laws on the books.