A license to drive?

Frontiersman

Beginning Jan. 1, 2005, Valley teens wishing to obtain a driver's license will have to wait at least a year from the time they receive their learner's permit to when they are able to get a full driver's license. The extra six months will be spent with a provisional license.

Currently, Alaska law requires drivers under 18 to obtain and hold a learner's permit for six months before testing for a drivers license.

But the new legislation, House Bill 213, outlines the so-called graduated drivers license, or GDL. Alaskan 16-year-olds will be eligible for a provisional license when they have held a learner's permit for six months; a parent certifies the teen has at least 40 hours of driving experience, including at least ten hours under challenging conditions such as night driving or icy roads; the teen has not been convicted for violating a traffic law for at least six months before applying.

Once they have a provisional license, teens will be subject to restrictions for the first six months, including no driving between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.; no passengers except those over age 21, siblings of the driver, or passengers accompanied by the driver's parent.

There are two exceptions to these restrictions: Work permits for teens who need to go to and from work during the no-driving hours, and drivers issued permits under the Department of Motor Vehicles hardship or off-systems licensing programs will not be affected by GDL provisions.

Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, R-Juneau, introduced HB 213 to the Alaska Legislature this year. The new law is based on teen driving statistics, which indicate the risk of accident or injury is highest in the first six months after teens gets licensed. HB 213 will curb the high incidence of teen driving collisions, Weyhrauch said.

The so-called graduated drivers license was recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board in 1993. Since then, the 38 states that adopted a comprehensive GDL licensing system have reported reductions in fatalities of teen drivers and passengers.

In California, driver and passenger fatalities for 16-year-olds dropped 21 percent statewide in 1998 and 1999, two years after the passage of a GDL law. Florida also reported a 21 percent drop in teen accidents after adopting GDL in 1997.

Although some parents were doubtful about aspects of graduated licensing prior to passage of the bill, faced with the statistics, most agreed on its merit.

Parents and politicians, however, are not the ones most affected by the new process; teenagers are. The ages that a teen will be eligible to receive their permit and license will not be changed by the law -- teens can still be eligible for a permit at 14, and a license at 16. But it is the changes in between those ages that have many teens upset.

Jade Oleck, a junior at Colony High School, received her license this fall.

"Had I gotten my license a few months later, I would have just dealt with it," Oleck said. "But I think it would be hard for some people."

Some teens, especially those who have yet obtained a driver's license, have a negative view of the new law. Alison Steel, a junior at CHS was visibly upset about it.

"It stinks," Steel said, "I will have to wait even longer to get my license."