Barnes declined to divulge details, but said he is looking at laws enacted in other states to curb teen driving accidents.

Raising the driving age "is one of the things on the table,'' along with more stringent driver's ed requirements, he said.

Although neither proposal is a certainty to be part of the final package, Barnes last year voiced support for increasing the minimum driving age to 17 and has said he favors requiring driver's education, though not as a school program to replace other academic courses.

"It's extensive,'' Barnes said of his highway safety proposal."It goes into enforcement, it goes into qualifications, it goes into penalties. It's pretty comprehensive."

Barnes' plan would be a high-profile addition to legislation already in the pipeline to curb teenage carnage on the road. And it's certain to escalate debate on perennial issue for suburban lawmakers who find many of their get-tough-on-teens measures blocked by legislators from rural parts of the state.

At least four teen-driving bills have been pre-filed for the legislative session that begins in mid-January, and others are on the way.

So far this year, at least 22 people have died in metro Atlanta wrecks involving teen drivers. The Governor's Office of Highway Safety says Georgia's teenage drivers were involved in an average of 76 crashes a day in 1998. The crash rate for 16- and 17-year-old drivers in Georgia was 227 percent higher than for drivers over age 24, according to state statistics.

"It seems to me the momentum is there," said Rep. Bobby Parham (D-Milledgeville), chairman of the House Motor Vehicles Committee. "I do look for significant change this year, including restrictions and mandating driver's education courses by either public or private sources."

How far the change may reach is unclear. Parham is co-sponsoring legislation to make driver's ed available at technical schools around the state, and to make it a condition for obtaining driver's licenses at age 16. But he says raising the driving age is still a taboo subject for many lawmakers - including him.

Metro Atlanta lawmakers hear from parents anxious for their teenagers to help with driving chores, Parham said, and lawmakers from agricultural areas hear from family farmers who "depend on the 16-year-olds to help get the crops to market."

"I know it's an old argument, but it still carries a lot of weight," Parham said.

In recent years, lawmakers have placed more restrictions on young drivers, adopting a "graduated driver's license" program that withholds unrestricted driving privileges until age 18, requires young teens to have a learner's permit for a full year before getting a driver's license, limits late-night driving hours, and suspends licenses for up to a year for drivers under 21 convicted of reckless driving or excessive speeding or who are involved in an auto accident.

Some of the provisions - part of a teen-driving package that was pushed by Gov. Zell Miller and Lt. Gov. Pierre Howard in 1997 - have drawn flak from some rural lawmakers who say it's too hard for some young people to get to and from school and jobs.

Still, lawmakers like Sen. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) say they'll continue pushing for tougher restrictions. Gingrey has pre-filed bills to raise the driving age and to require more training - and fewer passengers - when a teen is behind the wheel.

One of Gingrey's proposals would require 16-year-olds to have up to 40 hours of road experience before getting a license and would prohibit more than one other teenage passenger. He also wants to extend the state's teen-driving curfew to keep 16- and 17-year-old drivers off the road between midnight and 6 a.m.

On Monday, Barnes joined with Chic-fil-A founder Truett Cathy to announce a separate program aimed at teen driving safety: A three-year, statewide initiative to reward teens for using seat belts. Roughly 100 of Cathy's restaurants will join with 70 law enforcement agencies and 100 high schools to set up checkpoints near schools. Teens found properly buckled would be rewarded with Chic-fil-A sandwich coupons.