The Parents of Teenagers Relief Act

Could be a name for this legislation proposed by local Florida State House Rep(D) Irv Slosberg. He wants to increase the age for driving from 16 to 17. The legislator cites the high rate of accidents that young drivers have and the fatalities that occur.

Slosberg is one of my least favorite local politicians. He is a too liberal and too prone to meddling in other's business when the govt. would be best served not to interfere. He has made a history of crusading for laws toughening the penalties for bad driving plus bills to improve road safety. It mostly stems from the death of his teenage daughter almost 10 years ago in a horrific accident. On that Slosberg gets my sympathy, I've lost two children.

Here I tend to agree with him. I'd go along with a change in the driving age in Florida. While the accident rates are troubling, I don't know if that would change with addition of an extra year. 17 is as arbitrary as 16 was.

What my supports stems from, is teenagers who drive their own cars are more prone to be distracted from their schooling. They need to work to support their car. And this takes away from academics. Of course if parents would just say no, we wouldn't need a law change. I didn't gain my driver's license till age 18 after going in the Navy and didn't own my own car till age 19. Then my high school academic history was nothing to brag about. I was a lazy student.

If the legislation gets to Governor Bush, I think he should sign it. I don't know what the odds are of this occuring. We'll just wait and see.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Basil's Blog, Stop the ACLU, TMH's Bacon Bits,

WEST PALM BEACH — State Rep. Irving Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, says he plans to introduce a bill to raise Florida's driving age from 16 to 17, a measure he says would reduce traffic deaths and injuries.

"Our driving age at 16 is way too young," Slosberg said Thursday during a meeting with several legislators and The Palm Beach Post editorial board.

Sixteen-year-old drivers have a higher rate of involvement in fatal crashes than any other age, according to the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"It would clearly help if the driving age were raised," institute spokesman Russ Rader said. "But it never has gained any traction in most places to simply raise the age."

Instead, Florida and most other states in recent years have enacted restrictions on 16- and 17-year-old drivers. In Florida, a 16-year-old must have held a learner's license for at least a year before getting a driver license. At 16, a driver cannot be on the road between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless accompanied by an adult or commuting to work. A 17-year-old driver is restricted between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Ray Sansom, R-Destin, who is in line to become speaker in 2008, says he doesn't support raising the driving age. While 16-year-olds are the riskiest drivers, Sansom said, "I think it's more about being a new driver than whether they're 16 or 17."

Slosberg, who has spent five years trying to get the state to toughen its enforcement of seat-belt laws, said he views the driving-age proposal as another long-term project.

"I'm assuming I would get a lot of opposition at first, like the seat belts. But in years going forward I will break down the opposition," Slosberg said.

Slosberg has focused on traffic safety issues since his election to the House in 2000. In 1996, his 14-year-old daughter and four other teens were killed in a car crash on Palmetto Park Road near Boca Raton.

Slosberg said he has discussed the idea of raising the driving age for a while, but decided to introduce a bill after seeing a report this week on a AAA study of 15- to 17-year-old drivers. The study found that in fatal accidents involving the youngest drivers, the majority of people killed were passengers of the teen drivers, occupants of other cars and non-motorists.