New Law to Prevent Accidents Among New York Teen Drivers Under 18

Many car accidents occur every year due to drunk driving and some of the drunk driving accidents in New York are because of under-aged teens who drive drunk but a recent study suggests that even though this is a major threat and needs to be continued to be addressed this is not the leading cause of teen car accident injuries in New York. 

A recent study among injured New York teen drivers suggests that the top reasons that contribute to accidents among New York teen drivers are the teen driver being distracted and the teen drivers inexperience.  While both of these two sort of go hand in hand the state of New York is taking actions at both ends to try to ensure safer roadways for teens and adults alike. 

The new graduated license law will be enforced in New York starting February 22, 2010 and will eliminate the limited-use junior driver's licence.  The new teen driver law will consist of three main new laws for teen drivers under the age of 18:

• It will be illegal for someone under the age of 18 to drive with more than one non-family member that is under the age of 21 unless a parent or legal guardian is present in the car
• It will cause an increase in the number of driving hours needed to go from a learner's permit to the graduated license from 20 hours to 50 hours with at least 15 hours of those being after sunset
• It will require a teen under the age of 18 to have a permit for no less than 6 months prior to applying for a graduated license

Keeping the roads safe by helping teens be less distracted while they are driving is needed.  If you look at the statistics of New York teen drivers they make up 12% of the driving population in New York now and are responsible for 20% of accidents that occur. In fact in 2006 16 to 24 year olds involved in car crashes were responsible for over 200 deaths and approximately 26,553 car crash injuries in teens and young adults alone.