When It Comes to Teen Driving, Attitude Beats Age

June 25, 2011 (Press-News.org) According to Maryland driving instructor Charlie Hook (who has been teaching people how to drive for more than 40 years), teen drivers can be "just as good" as drivers with years of experience, as Vanessa Junkin of the Carroll County Times reports.

But, Hook also said, "The attitude's more important than anything," weighting attitude as a heavier factor than age when it comes to good driving.

And when you think of attitude, you think of your orientation to responsible driving. A teen driver with the right attitude will avoid drinking and driving, which could not only lead to an arrest and charges of Maryland DUI, but result in an alcohol-related car wreck that causes serious injury or even death to other drivers and passengers.

After all, the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 20 is car crashes.

To Get a Maryland Driver's License, Stay Alcohol-free

Data indicate that the rate of fatal car crashes involving teen drivers has been declining across the nation. This may be in large part because of graduated driver's license programs, which generally impose a zero-tolerance policy toward drunk driving - or drinking any amount of alcohol at all and getting behind the wheel.

Teen drivers used to get behind the wheel with a learner's permit, a licensed chaperone (typically a parent), and some in-class instruction. Then, when they turned 16, they took a test and passed (or took it again if not). Then they were licensed. It was almost as if a newly licensed teen driver was thought to be just as competent as any other licensed driver, in terms of the lack of restrictions.

But studies done over the last couple decades show that maturity and experience play a great role in the rate of fatal car accidents involving teen drivers. Graduated driver's license programs take maturity and experience into account.

In Maryland, 18 is the minimum age at which you can obtain a full driver's license - "minimum," because it is presumed that individual applicants will make their way through the graduated process with varying degrees of success.

Maryland's Graduated Driver's License Program

Maryland has a three-step process:
- The learner's permit: must be at least 15 years and nine months old
- The provisional license: must be at least 16 years and six months old
- The full driver's license: must be at least 18 years old

Each step requires different tasks to be completed, from completing a practice skills log during the learner's permit stage to logging a minimum number of hours behind the wheel, at set times of the day, during the provisional license stage.

And, for drivers under age 21, their "license and record must be alcohol-free," according to the Maryland Department of Transportation.

Avoiding drunk driving makes sense, and is particularly important among younger drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for those drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 who died in car crashes in 2009, 33 percent of them had been drinking.

Article provided by The Law Offices of James E. Crawford, Jr. & Associates, LLC
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