The Lane Ranger: Tougher violations would get young drivers' attention
2001 GEORGIA LEGISLATURE
Joey Ledford - Staff
Wednesday, January 24, 2001

Few Georgians are aware of it, but it remains possible for a teenage driver to get as many as seven tickets and still have a valid driver's license.

That would change, at least for 16-year-olds, if the proposed revamping of Georgia's teen driving law proposed by Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Sen. Phil Gingrey goes into effect. The bill, which is changing as fast as the weather, passed the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.

Taylor has added language to the bill that would suspend for six months the license of any 16-year-old convicted of any two-point moving violation. A second ticket would take away the license for a year. "We have to grab their attention early on in the driving experience," said Taylor.

He believes that the once-controversial existing provision that costs a teen his or her license for speeding more than 24 mph over the limit --- a four-point violation --- is perhaps the most valuable part of the law. "This is the provision of the law that has cost thousands of teens their license," he said. "I believe it's saved . . . lives."

Such big point violations lead to immediate suspensions. But teenagers can get as many as seven two-point violations under existing law without losing their license.

Co-sponsor Gingrey, a Marietta Republican, said the stricter ticket provision is Taylor's idea and the Albany Democrat deserves all the credit for it. But Gingrey said he supports it.

"He felt we definitely ought to . . . get the attention of these young drivers and to give them an incentive not to speed and drive recklessly even though their peers are egging them on to do just that," Gingrey said.

It makes sense, said Gingrey, to "set the bar a little bit lower as far as the speeding level is concerned, long before their foot gets so heavy that they can kill everyone in their car."

It's no secret that a lot of Georgia judges and law enforcement officers concerned about teens losing their license often saw a way to make a 24-over speeding violation a 20-over to give the teen a break. If this provision passes, that leeway goes away --- even a more than 14-over infraction would cost them the license.

That change converted a former opponent of the bill, safe teen driving advocate John Morris, into a big supporter. "The bottom line is teenagers will become better drivers not to save their lives, but to save their licenses," said Morris, a longtime critic of the seven-ticket loophole.

Before last week's hearing in which Taylor announced the changes, Morris said he wasn't convinced tougher curfews and passenger restrictions are the answer. But cracking down on teens' moving violations, said Morris, changed his mind. "Look at the deaths of teenage drivers," said Morris, citing a federal study. "Over half of them have previous violations."

Tom Enright, longtime former federal highway safety official, wonders if a six-month suspension for one ticket is too harsh. "My gut says three months would get their attention," he said. "But I would agree that for the beginning driver, for that first year, any moving violation should carry some license sanction."

There's another issue relating to the Gingrey-Taylor bill that few teens or their parents are aware of --- both the proposed curfew and passenger restrictions are only secondary violations. That means if an officer witnesses what he believes is a young driver out past the curfew, he cannot pull him over unless he sees him commit another offense. That would not change under the proposed bill.

Likewise, a car full of apparent teen passengers is not grounds for a traffic stop unless there's another violation.

Gingrey defended the secondary enforcement provisions as tough enough. "I can only hope that parents, knowing the law, will be the ones who enforce those provisions," he said.

Gingrey also said he sees no need for exceptions to the proposed 10 p.m. curfew for 16-year-olds and midnight for 17-year-olds for either jobs or school activities.

"I don't think Burger King or Pizza Hut or any other employer should keep teenagers out until midnight," he said. "These employers need to take more responsibility for our youth. It's an abuse of child labor to keep them there until midnight." Likewise, school activities should be over before the curfew begins. "That's why they start all these ballgames at 7:30," said Gingrey.

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