 Senate Bill 172, known as Jesse White's Teen Driving Bill and
sponsored by Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and Rep. John D'Amico,
D-Chicago, is based on recommendations made by a task force
assembled by White in response to a series of articles in the
Chicago Tribune about the dangers faced by teen drivers.
"As the father of two young girls who will someday be getting
behind the wheel for the first time, it gives me a lot of comfort to
sign this bill," Blagojevich said during the bill signing event at
Jones College Prep in Chicago's South Loop neighborhood. "Driving
takes practice and concentration -- and the consequences of not
being fully trained and prepared can be deadly. I commend Secretary
of State Jesse White for his leadership on this issue, and the task
force for their hard work in developing recommendations that will
save lives."
"This law will not only make Illinois' teen driver program one of
the strongest in the nation, but more importantly, it will save
lives," said White. "Over the last year I've worked hard with my
Teen Driver Safety Task Force to create legislation that better
prepares new teen drivers and helps to prevent vehicle crashes, the
leading cause of death for young people."
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of fatalities among
teenagers in the United States, where nearly 1,000 16-year-old
drivers are involved in fatal crashes annually. In Illinois, last
year there were 151 fatal crashes that involved young drivers
between the ages of 16 and 19. A total of 37 of those fatalities
were in Cook County.
The secretary of state's task force included representatives from
the Illinois Department of Transportation's Division of Traffic
Safety, other traffic safety experts, legislators, police, judges,
educators and victims' advocates.
Senate Bill 172 tightens learner's permit and graduated driver's
license requirements through the following:
-
Extends learner's
permit period from three to nine months.
-
Extends nighttime
curfews to drivers up to 17 years old (currently 16).
-
Moves up the
weekday curfew to 10 p.m. from 11 p.m. and to 11 p.m. from
midnight on weekends. Exceptions are made if driving with an
adult, to and from work or school, and emergencies.
-
Doubles from six to
12 months the time during which a graduated driver's license
driver, under the age of 18, may carry only one unrelated
passenger under the age of 20, excluding siblings.
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-
Allows ticketing
for all passengers age 15 to 20 for riding in the car driven by
the new driver (currently only the driver is ticketed.).
-
Requires student
drivers to complete a full six hours of actual, on-the-street
driving with a certified instructor. Currently up to five of the
six hours may be substituted with other educational methods such
as computer simulation.
-
Requires that new
drivers have six months of violation-free driving with a
graduated driver's license before the age of 18 before becoming
eligible for an unrestricted graduated driver's license license.
With the nine permit months, that means 15 months of
violation-free driving is required before becoming eligible for
a full license.
-
Establishes tough
new sanctions for street racing and strengthens sanctions for
repeat violations for any drivers under the age of 21.
"This legislation is about the safety of 16- and 17-year-old
drivers throughout Illinois," said D'Amico, House sponsor of the
legislation. "By strengthening our GDL law, Illinois is setting an
example that I think states throughout the country will follow. I
believe that this legislation will save lives here in Illinois and
any other state that follows our lead."
"Illinois has made very strong progress in increasing safety belt
use and reducing traffic fatalities since Governor Blagojevich
signed the primary seat belt enforcement into law in 2003," said
Acting IDOT Secretary Milt Sees. "But we have continued to see far
too many tragic crashes involving teens. This legislation enacted
today should enable us to save even more lives."
Senate Bill 172 becomes effective Jan. 1, 2008, except for the
provision requiring six hours of on-the-street driving, which takes
effect July 1, 2008.
[Text from file received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information]
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