Staff Report
RALEIGH -- Lawmakers passed a bill that will make a major change in how teenagers become drivers in North Carolina.
The General Assembly passed the bill based on a report by the Governor�s Highway Safety Commission and the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force. It implements a graduated plan for teenage driving privileges. The bill is designed to introduce teens to full-fledged driving privileges over 18 months. Currently, students can get their driver�s permit at age 15 with limited privileges, then gain full privileges the day they turn 16.
Gov. Jim Hunt signed the bill into law in April. It takes effect Dec. 1.
The main reason for the bill is to reduce the number of automobile accidents involving teens. According to the Fatality Task Force, 16-year-olds are at least five times more likely to be involved in a wreck than adult drivers. Each year in the state, about one in four 16-year-old drivers are involved in auto accidents, according to the UNC Highway Safety Research Center. For example, in 1995, almost one in three 16-year-olds got into a wreck, for a total of 12,470 auto accidents. Nearly half of those ended in serious injury; 53 resulted in death.
Now teens only have to drive for six hours with a driver�s ed instructor before they are eligible to take their road test administered by the state. The new plan would include: (a) a learner�s permit which children would be eligible for at 15; (b) a provisional license at age 16, with unsupervised driving from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m.; and (c) full driving privileges after six months if the teens does not have a violation or accident.
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