Missouri scores well in teen-driving laws survey

Parents of teenage drivers can rest a little easier.

A study released in today's Reader's Digest magazine ranks Missouri in the second-best grouping of an analysis of laws on teen driving.

Based on information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the survey ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on strictness of laws in three categories: driving-under-the-influence laws aimed at drivers under 21, seat-belt use and restrictions on teenagers prior to receiving their driver's license.

States received a best, good, fair or worst ranking. Missouri was one of 13 states categorized as good, and earned A's for its DWI laws and graduated driver licensing and got a C for seat-belt laws.

On a statewide level, 180 people ages 15 to 20 died in a traffic accident in 2007, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation, a decrease from 262 deaths two years earlier.

The reduction in teen crash fatalities is part of a larger statewide effort to reduce the number of overall traffic deaths to 1,000. The program, which began in 2004, was scheduled to meet the goal by 2008. That goal was achieved a year earlier.

MoDOT state youth coordinator for highway safety Adrian Hendricks said the decrease is due in part to safety awareness campaigns such as the recent Team Spirit workshop in Cape Girardeau. About 100 teens from 10 area schools learned about motor safety through seminars, speakers and an on-site crash simulation. The Cape Girardeau conference is one of two such workshops MoDOT will coordinate in the state in 2008.

"When we have 10 schools who take back and implement what they learned here in their respective schools, they have that ability to impact their community," Hendricks said.

Missouri's graduated driver's licensing law has helped in the reduction of teen vehicle accidents and deaths, said Lt. John Hotz, assistant director of public information for the state highway patrol.

"All these things work together to reinforce the need for driver safety," Hotz said.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137