Teen Driving Law Violations Down on Eve of First Year Anniversary

Preliminary Review Gives Encouraging Signs, More Study to Occur

WETHERSFIELD -- As the state approaches the first-year anniversary of implementing tougher teen driving laws, a preliminary review shows a significant drop in convictions for these driving-related offenses, Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Robert M. Ward announced today.

“While this is just the beginning of our analysis of the new laws’ impact in the last year, we are very encouraged by these numbers,” said Commissioner Ward. “I think these improvements are coming in part because parents, teens, police and others are sending the message that teen safe driving is a priority.”

The new laws, developed by Governor’s Task Force on Teen Safe Driving, took affect August 1, 2008. He was also joined by other safety partners, including public heath and law enforcement, in welcoming these indicators of improvement.

In addition, an initial review of crash data also shows a drop in fatalities caused by a teen driver during the first five-months following the start of the new laws last August when compared to the same time in 2007-2008. The 2009 data is not yet available.

Governor M. Jodi Rell in 2007 created the Teen Safe Driving Task Force to examine laws and raise awareness of this critical issue facing teenagers, parents and communities. The Governor later signed into law the legislation that her special task force recommended. It included rolling back curfew times for teen drivers, increasing on-the-road training requirements and implementing tougher penalties for driving under the influence and other motor vehicle violations related to teen driving.

The DMV recently reviewed convictions on the records 16 and 17-year-old drivers to see how the new laws are working. The areas examined related speeding, seat belts, cell phones, distracted driving, passenger restrictions and curfew, and driving under the influence.

It found for the two-year period beginning 8/1/07 through June 30, 2009:

• A 43% drop in speeding convictions (2,777 to 1,585)
• A 34% drop in seat belt violation convictions  (855 to 564)
• A 51% drop in cell phone and driving while distracted convictions (293 to 144)
• A 5% drop in combined passenger restriction and curfew violation convictions (675 to 643)
• A 22% drop in administrative per se driving under the influence license suspensions (107 to 84)

DMV also reviewed crash data for this period. When comparing the first five months of the new laws to the same period a year earlier, statistics show a decline in fatalities. (Statistics for the 2009 calendar year are not yet available).

During the period from August to December last year, there were only two fatalities related to a 16- or 17-year-old driver who either died, had passengers die or was involved in an crash in which people in another vehicle died. For that same time in 2007, there were seven 16- and 17-year-old driver related fatalities.

For the entire calendar year there were 14 such fatalities in 2008 compared to 17 for 2007.

While it is far too soon to know the impact of the law, clearly the numbers are moving in the right direction, said Commissioner Ward.

He credited the improvements to a variety of efforts including the abundance of public awareness and education prompted by the Governor’s Task Force’s discussion about new laws, police departments educating their communities about the new laws and enforcement, community groups working in high schools to make students more aware of penalties and consequences, and extensive coverage of the issue by the state’s news media.

“It’s been a collective effort at overall education, awareness and enforcement. As we study the issue more, we will be able to look at both the education and enforcement actions to fine tune them,” he said.

The Office of he Chief State’s Attorney is also pleased with the trend. Susan M. Naide, senior assistant state’s attorney, and former member of the Governor’s Task Force on Teen Safe Driving, said, “We have been gratified since the passage of this legislation that it is helping to reduce tragedies and increase awareness of safety.”

Public health advocates, who have been long-time supporters of tougher laws to save lives, also praised the trend.

Dr. Brendan T. Campbell, surgeon, former Task Force member and director of Pediatric Trauma at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, said that this helps with his hospital’s efforts to reach pediatric physicians statewide to ask them to reinforce safety messages during doctor visits.

"Based on the data we have seen so far, there is a clear trend toward fewer speeding violations and fewer motor vehicle related deaths in 16 and 17 year olds in Connecticut since the new teen driving laws were strengthened last year.  These data corroborate what has been seen in other states that have implemented stricter teen driving laws," he said.

"There are several other factors in addition to the new laws which have a role for preventing teenage car crashes.  Our research has shown that interventions targeting Connecticut pediatricians can improve physician counseling to teens and their parents on issues of teen driving safety.  This work will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Trauma," Campbell said.

These signals of improvement in teen driving also please law enforcement officials, too, said East Hampton Police Chief Matthew A. Reimondo, immediate past president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association.

“This trend is good to see and indicates how a collaborative effort among law enforcement, parents, state officials, educators and other partners in teen driving safety can boost awareness and understanding of the need for these laws,” said Chief Reimondo.