Two sides dig in heels on metro driving bill
2001 GEORGIA LEGISLATURE
Kathey Pruitt - Staff
Wednesday, February 14, 2001

Gov. Roy Barnes' point man on teen driving promised Tuesday that there will be "a pretty good fight" if lawmakers try to kill legislation that prohibits unsupervised 16-year-olds from driving in metro Atlanta.

But House Speaker Tom Murphy (D-Bremen) and members of the House Motor Vehicles Committee are equally determined not to allow the minimum solo driving age to increase to 17 in 18 metro Atlanta counties, even if stopping the measure could hand the Democratic governor his first major legislative defeat.

And some said they'd heard the governor may consider scaling down the number of counties affected --- something Barnes' office wouldn't confirm.

A showdown over the bill could come as early as next week, when the committee is set to vote on a substitute that strikes references to a two-tiered driving age. Barnes insists that limiting the number of the youngest drivers in metro Atlanta will address the problem in the area with the largest number of teen driving accidents and deaths.

"The governor intends to fight for the 17-year-old provision," said Rep. Charlie Smith (D-St. Marys), Barnes' House floor leader. "I can't say exactly where the fight will occur, but at some point, I think you can expect a pretty big fight over this issue."

Some opponents of the provision said administration officials are quietly talking about scaling down the legislation.

"I haven't been asked myself, but I do understand he's been polling certain members about what would their feelings be if he dropped all the other counties and went back to his original plan," said Rep. Bobby Parham (D-Milledgeville), chairman of the House Motor Vehicles Committee. Originally, Barnes discussed covering at least four major metro counties --- Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett.

Parham's committee is poised to adopt the substitute bill, which would delete the 18-county ban on unsupervised 16-year-old drivers. If it does so, it will be the closest Barnes has come to losing a major legislative initiative in the three legislative sessions since he became governor.

Parham said he thinks he has the votes to get his substitute through the House. He also has a powerful backer: House Speaker Murphy, who adamantly opposes the governor's proposal. "I'm going to do my best to try to see it doesn't pass," Murphy said Tuesday. "I've made no bones about that. I'm tired of punishing good 16-year-olds because of the sins of the bad 16-year-olds."

During a four-hour public hearing the committee held on the teen driving restrictions Tuesday, few speakers specifically called for the higher metro Atlanta driving age. And some teen safety advocates said raising the driving age for metro Atlanta fails to address high accident rates in rural Georgia. Instead, many speakers made emotional calls to restore driver's education in Georgia schools and impose tougher curfews and passenger restrictions.