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Article published Jan 5, 2005
Strengthening the driver licensing law would lower accident rate

South Carolina lawmakers should follow up on proposals to strengthen the state's graduated driver licensing law.The law lengthens the time it takes teenage drivers to earn full driving privileges. Since it took effect, the number of accidents involving teenage drivers in the Palmetto State has dropped. But it has dropped much more in North Carolina, where the law is stronger.South Carolina still allows 15-year-olds to get a conditional driver's license after driving under adult supervision for six months. North Carolina requires adult supervision for a year.State Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, says he will push in this year's legislative session to raise the age for unsupervised driving to 16. Other lawmakers should support his push.The state's traffic patterns and conditions no longer support driving by 15-year-olds.The law made sense when much of South Carolina traffic was on rural, farm-to-market roads. Now the state is dominated by complex, urban traffic patterns. Those patterns take more experience and judgment to travel safely.In addition, the state has not kept up with road construction and maintenance. Many of our roads are congested. They carry more traffic than they were designed to. Congested traffic also demands enhanced experience and judgment. Worn roads and potholes offer challenges to all drivers.Numerous studies show that teenage drivers are more likely than drivers of other ages to be involved in accidents. Federal statistics show that 16-year-olds are more likely to cause an accident than 17-year-olds and that the risk further diminishes with 18-year-olds.Clearly it is in the state's best interest to give young drivers as much preparation as possible before allowing them to drive unsupervised.If we are going to allow 15-year-olds to drive, we should require them to do so in the presence of a licensed adult for a full year.Some families have complained that giving full licenses to 15-year-olds gives parents additional help ferrying other children and running family errands. But the stakes are too high for such considerations to be a priority.The safety of our teenagers and everyone else on the state's roads demands that lawmakers strengthen the graduated driver's license law.