New Teen Driving Laws Now in Effect

There are in Pennsylvania that are designed to make sure those who get behind the wheel have more experience, are less distracted and are safer drivers—and less likely to injure or kill themselves or someone else on the road.

The new rules are contained in Act 81 of 2011, a law I helped to pass in October. The law deals with three major areas: changes to junior driving training, junior driver passenger restrictions and seat belt requirements for all drivers.

In the area of junior driver training, Act 81 increases supervised, behind-the-wheel skill building for learner’s permit holders younger than 18 years old from 50 hours to 65 hours. Ten of the added hours will consist of nighttime driving, while the other five additional hours must be driven in poor weather conditions.

Learner’s permit holders who had taken their on-the-road driving skills test before the law’s effective date of Dec. 27, 2011 only needed to complete the present requirement of 50 hours of supervised training.

However, learner’s permit holders who have not passed the on-the-road driving skills test before Dec. 27, 2011 will have to meet the new requirement of 65 total hours of supervised skill building training—including the 10 nighttime hours and five poor-weather hours of driving—before they are authorized to take the driving skills portion of their driver’s test to receive their junior license.

In terms of changes to junior driver passenger restrictions, Act 81 places increased restrictions on the number and age of passengers that a junior driver license holder may transport. Current law limits drivers younger than 18 to transporting no more passengers than the number of seat belts in the vehicle.

As of Dec. 27, 2011, for the first six months after receiving their junior driver’s license, a driver is not permitted to have more than one passenger younger than age 18 who is not an immediate family member (brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister of the junior driver and adopted or foster children living in the same household as the junior driver) in their vehicle unless accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

If they have not been convicted of a driving violation or been partially or fully responsible for a reportable crash after six months, they may have up to three passengers younger than 18 (who are not immediate family members) without a parent or legal guardian present.

If they have any convictions or are partially or fully responsible for a reportable crash while a junior driver, they are once again restricted to one passenger.

Finally, all drivers and occupants in a vehicle who are younger than 18 must wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt, and children younger than 8 must be securely fastened in a child restraint system. Failure to comply with the new law’s seat belt provisions is a primary offense, meaning that a driver can be pulled over and cited solely for that violation.

The new law also requires the state Department of Transportation to prepare a biannual report for the public with information on crashes involving teen drivers— including the number of passengers in the vehicle and details on seatbelt use.

In just one year—from 2009 to 2010—fatalities in crashes that involved teen drivers increased 43 percent in Pennsylvania. I hope this new law will improve safety on the road, and reduce injuries and fatalities in vehicle crashes (for teen drivers and all drivers in Pennsylvania).

You can find more information on the new teen driver law here and Pennsylvania’s requirements for teen drivers here on PennDOT’s website at www.dot.state.pa.us.