New state law doubles driving requirement

~ Missouri teens also need at least 10 hours of nighttime driving experience.

Missouri teenagers will need twice as many hours of behind-the-wheel instruction, including at least 10 hours of nighttime driving, under provisions of a new state law that took effect on Jan. 1.

The latest requirements are part of legislation enacted by the legislature last year.

Novice drivers will have to have 40 hours of behind-the-wheel experience before they can take the state driving test and obtain an intermediate license as part of the state's graduated driver license system, officials say. Prior to Jan. 1, only 20 hours of training was required.

AAA Missouri auto club official Mike Right supports the increased requirement for on-the-road training. He argues it's a safety issue.

Right favors even more training. "Actually 40 hours is way too few,' he said. "I just can't believe that anybody who is a parent thinks that a teenager can become an accomplished driver with 40 hours of instruction. You can't teach a teenager much of anything in 40 hours," Right said.

No driver education

"Many states require 50 hours of instruction," he said. Others require novice drivers to take driver education courses.

Missouri doesn't require any formal driver education instruction, Right said. "Most students in high school don't have access to driver education classes," he said.

Central High School eliminated its drivers' education course more than a decade ago as a cost-cutting move, local school officials said.

Students at Jackson, Scott City and other area high schools don't offer a drivers' eduction class either.

The bottom line, Right said, is that teenagers are learning how to drive from their parents.

The increased number of hours of behind-the-wheel training hopefully will help reduce injuries and fatalities involving teenage motorists, Right said.

Driving at night

Prior to Jan. 1, novice drivers weren't required to have any nighttime driving experience in order to get an intermediate license. Young drivers need some supervision to learn how to drive safely at night, he said.

Eighteen percent of all fatalities of teenagers 15 to 18 years of age occurs between midnight and 6 a.m., Right said.

Missouri's graduated license system first went into effect in 2001. Right said the laws have improved drivers' training and traffic safety for teenage motorists.

In 2003, 129 teenage motorists, ages 15 to 18, were killed in traffic accidents in Missouri. In 2004, the number of fatalities dropped to 118, Right said. He credits license requirements for new motorists in helping to reduce teen fatalities on Missouri's roadways.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol oversees the driver testing program. Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. John Hotz said requiring more driving instruction should help improve traffic safety.

"Obviously in Missouri the most dangerous thing our kids do on a daily basis is get in a car and drive around," Hotz said.

Teenagers can begin driving when they turn 15 years of age with an instruction permit. State law allows them to drive provided they are accompanied by a parent, grandparent or other legal guardian or a professional driving instructor, said Missouri Department of Revenue spokeswoman Maura Browning.

The Revenue Department oversees the operation of the license bureaus.

Licensing

Teenage drivers can obtain intermediate licenses when they turn 16. But to do so, their parents or legal guardians must certify that they have at least the required 40 hours of driving instruction.

When the teenager goes into the license bureau to obtain an intermediate permit, he or she needs to be accompanied by a parent or guardian who will stipulate that the novice driver has the proper amount of driving experience, Browning said.

Still, she said, it amounts to an honor system. A parent could lie about the teenager's driving experience. "I am sure it happens," Browning said.

Besides the behind-the-wheel instruction, a driver must pass a driving test in order to get an intermediate license, she said.

Randi Markham, a driving examiner supervisor for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, has given the road test to countless teenagers in the Cape Girardeau area.

She welcomes the new behind-the-wheel training requirements. "It definitely cannot hurt," she said.

But she believes many teenagers end up driving far more than 40 hours accompanied by their parents. The biggest change may be the nighttime driving requirement.

Parents likely have been reluctant in the past to let their children drive at night, she said.

While the 40 hours of training is required to obtain an intermediate license from the license bureau, the driver examiners -- housed across town in a state office building -- don't require the test takers to disclose how much experience they have had behind the wheel, Markham said.

"We just hope they know what they are doing," she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123