By Michael Dresser and John-John Williams IV , michael.dresser@baltsun.com and john-john.williams@baltsun.com|September 10, 2008
An influential highway safety organization is urging American states to consider joining most other industrialized nations in raising the age at which teens can drive to at least 17 - and possibly even 18.
In a report released yesterday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety noted that most U.S. states allow teens to receive their licenses at 16 to 16 1/2 . The organization pointed to research showing a sharply lower level of traffic fatalities among 16-year-olds in New Jersey - the only U.S. state to make teens wait until 17 to get a license - compared with other states.
The group's recommendation could help ignite a national debate over the appropriate age at which to entrust teens with the responsibility to drive without adult supervision.
AAA Mid-Atlantic expressed support for a higher driving age, saying that its polls have long shown that many Marylanders back the idea. It referenced a 1999 survey in which 68 percent of Maryland drivers supported setting the age at 17.
Ragina Averella, a AAA spokeswoman, said that over a five-year period, 13,889 people were injured and 125 people killed in Maryland in crashes involving 16- to 20-year-old drivers.
"Is raising the driving age an idea whose time has come? In the wake of the spate of fatal crashes involving teen drivers in Maryland last October and November, the sentiment is probably stronger now," she said. Roughly a dozen teens were killed last fall in accidents in the Washington suburbs of Maryland and Virginia.
David Nevins, a spokesman for the Maryland Highway Safety Foundation, said the fledgling organization has not taken a formal position on the issue, but plans to discuss the report at the next board meeting.
"We intend to study the report closely," said Nevins, a member of that board. "It's fair to say that many members of our board have a strong interest in seeing the driving age rise."
Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said that state Motor Vehicle Administrator John Kuo has directed his staff to survey best practices on licensing around the country. Porcari said the O'Malley administration is neither rejecting nor adopting the recommendation at this time. "We're going to let the data drive this discussion," he said.
Dr. Peter Beilenson, Howard County's health officer, said he favors the existing state law that allows students to receive provisional licenses when they reach 16 years, 3 months, with a gradually expiring set of restrictions.
