MISSOURI'S BEGINNING DRIVERS MUST GET PERMIT AT 15 TO BE LICENSED

Missouri teen-agers who hope to get a drivers license on their 16th birthday next year need to start planning and practicing now.

Starting Jan. 1, 16-year olds won't be able to get a license unless they have had a permit for six months. That means a 15-year old born March 6, 1984, would have to get his instruction permit today in order to be eligible for a license on his birthday.

The requirement is only one step in a three-stage process outlined in Missouri's new graduated drivers license law. In addition to the permit mandate, the law also establishes an intermediate license for 16- to 18-year-olds before they become eligible for a full license.

The new law is intended to provide more supervised instruction for young drivers and reduce the number of teen driving fatalities and accidents. The Missouri Department of Revenue says 19 percent of drivers between 16 and 20 are involved in at least one vehicle accident, the highest rate of accidents per driver for any age group.

Overall, 44 states have some sort of graduated licensing system. A reduction in teen driving fatalities has been shown in states where the system has been in place several years.

"I think it's a pretty good thing," said Orville Kraus, who coordinates the adult-education program at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center. Kraus" program includes a course that provides six hours of behind-the-wheel instruction for instruction permit-holders.

The graduated licensing system requires more parental involvement than in the past. Parents must pledge to provide their child with 20 hours of behind-the-wheel time before the instruction permit will be issued.

Verification of the 20 hours of instruction is required before the license is issued, although there is no way to prove or disprove the verification.

The sponsor of the law, state Sen. Wayne Goode, D-Normandy, said he realizes their is no way to verify the 20-hour rule. "Our intent was just to encourage parents to work with their kids before they get behind the wheel," he said.

The 20 instructional hours can only be provided by parents, grandparents or legal guardians. Hours spent in driver education programs cannot be counted toward the mandate, although some educators believe the law should be expanded.

"They should include driver's education in that 20 hours," said Richard Salinardi, a driver's education teacher at Hazelwood Central High School. "That will take the pressure off the parents, and the job will get done."

Jack Russell is a longtime Cape Girardeau driver's education instructor who currently teaches driver's training at the career center. Russell said he wouldn't want to be in a car with a young driver without the special equipment -- including a passenger's side brake pedal -- included in instructional cars.

"I'm not too sure that I'd want to get in any car with them right off the bat if I was a parent," said Russell. "If someone could teach them and get that edge off, that would be much better."

Russell said his classes are booked by teens, college students and international students through March. The individual instruction costs $145. There is no classroom instruction.

Kraus said he believes the training program will continue to have high participation despite their exclusion from state-authorized training. He expects most parents to view the course as an additional safeguard for young drivers.

"Those highways out there are killers. You just can't be too prepared," Kraus said. "Organized instruction is good because that's what they do, that's their business. They can give youngsters pointers I might not be able to give."

The Associated Press contributed to this report..