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Learning to Drive Rite
 by Olivia Maddox
The 1998 session of the Indiana General Assembly was winding down, and the fate of Senate Bill 16, which would change the driver's licensing system for 16- and 17-year-olds in Indiana, was still up in the air. The bill was controversial from the get-go because one of its restrictions would prohibit teen drivers from becoming chauffeurs for their brothers and sisters.
But the bill's sponsor, State Sen. David Ford, was cautiously optimistic. While he had introduced the bill on two previous occasions to no avail, this time, the measure had successfully navigated both the Senate and the House. Only one step remained: Gov. Frank O'Bannon's signature on the bill.
And with that stroke of the pen, the first legislative effort aimed at reducing Indiana's teen driving fatality rate went into effect, beginning Jan. 1, 1999. The law has three restrictions for drivers under 18:
- They can't drive during Indiana curfew hours unless going to or from a job, school-sponsored event or church activity or are driving with a parent or guardian.
- For the first 90 days after getting their license, they can't transport other peopleincluding siblingsunless a licensed driver 21 or older is in the passenger seat.
- All passengers in the vehicle must wear a seat belt.
"We got the graduated licensing law by being one of the worst states in the country," says Jerry McCory, director of the Indiana Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving. Indiana ranks fifth in the nation in the number of fatal crashes with teens at the wheel. "But when presented with the facts, the legislature responded. The (teen driving) legislation received support in both houses."
Ford agrees that the grim statistics made the difference. In 1997, Indiana drivers age 16-19 represented only 6.2 percent of the state's licensed drivers but were involved in 13.7 percent of all fatal crashes. And they accounted for 14.9 percent of total crashesdouble the crash rate of 25-34 year-olds and three times greater than the rate for those over 45.
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