AAA Urges Legislators to Strengthen Teen Driving Law

HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 23, 2006 -- AAA officials today urged legislators to strengthen the state's teen driving law by limiting the number of teen passengers a new teen driver would be allowed to carry in the car. In testimony before the House Transportation Committee, Pennsylvania AAA Federation director Ted Leonard pointed to studies showing that nearly as many teen passengers are killed in teen driver crashes as drivers themselves. Nationally, two-thirds of teen passengers ages 13-19, killed in car crashes, died with a teen driver at the wheel. In Pennsylvania, between the years 1995-2004, 390 teen drivers died in crashes while, during the same period, 352 teen passengers died in crashes involving a teen driver.

Teen drivers usually transport more passengers than older drivers, and they are typically from the same age group. The risk of teen passengers with a teen driver is significant; one teen passenger doubles the risk of crash, and two or more teen passengers create five times the risk of driving alone. Teen passengers not only provide a greater level of distraction for a teen driver, but encouragement to take risks, to speed, to show off, not to use seat belts and utilize alcohol.

California implemented teenage passenger restrictions in 1998, and in the three years following the law, crash fatalities among teenage passengers declined 25 percent. There are currently 33 states, including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia, with some form of restrictions on teenage passengers.

"We realize that restricting teen passengers has the potential for putting more teen drivers on the road, but that risk is more than offset by limiting the infinitely more dangerous trips of multiple teen passengers," said Leonard. The AAA proposal would include passenger exemptions for family members.