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Testimony
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 343 Thank you Mr. Speaker, I rise before you to ask for your support for Substitute House Bill 343, which recently passed the House Transportation, Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee with unanimous support. This legislation places restrictions on the operation of motor vehicles by probationary license holders and temporary instruction permit holders. Another aspect of this legislation amended into the bill by the committee requires children who are between four and fifteen years of age to be restrained in either a child restraint system or by a seat belt when the child is an occupant in a motor vehicle. Southwest Ohio has seen an unfortunately large amount of car accidents involving teen aged drivers. However it’s a phenomenon occurring all over the state of Ohio. Inexperienced drivers who are sidetracked by distractions are to blame in many of these car accidents. Substitute House Bill 343 principally aims to reduce the amount of distractions teen aged drivers are faced with as they spend their first year on the road. According to the Journal of Safety Research, the risk of a fatal crash is three times higher after 9 p.m. for 16-year-old drivers. And overall, about 40 percent of teen motor vehicle fatalities occur at night. In addition, studies have confirmed that there is a direct correlation between the increased presence of teenage passengers and the risk of an accident. A study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety demonstrated that a single passenger nearly doubled the risk of a fatal crash and two or more passengers raised the risk five fold. Also differentiating teen driver accidents, is their accidents are often with other vehicles causing harm and injury to others rather than accidents with fixed objects which would cause harm only to themselves. Substitute House Bill 343 creates another “step” in Ohio’s Graduated Drivers License program. This new middle step gives young drivers time to adjust to the responsibility of driving while limiting known distractions. This legislation addresses the time after a sixteen year old passes their driving test and is granted a probationary driver’s license. Substitute House Bill 343 also places a restriction on the amount of non-family member occupants who may ride along in a vehicle driven by a 16 year old. No more than one non-family member may be present in the vehicle unless a parent of the driver is also in the vehicle. This does not prohibit a teen driver from transporting family members and helping their parents with driving duties. All too often we have seen new drivers with a car fully loaded with friends and those drivers are more interested in paying attention to their friends instead of the road and other drivers. Substitute House Bill 343 also extends the night driving restrictions for 16 year olds. The law currently says that 16 and 17 year olds may not drive between the hours of one am and five am. This legislation increases that by two hours for sixteen year olds- from midnight to six am. Through the Committee process we attempted to create legislation which gives new drivers the time to become more mature by reducing the amount of distractions to those drivers. However, many members felt that we should not penalize those teenagers who are responsible and take driving seriously. As an alternative to lengthening the learners permit time period, we placed an increased penalty for 16 year olds who receive a moving violation in the bill. A 16 year old driver who receives a moving violation, would now be required to spend six more months driving with a parent; following the same guidelines a temporary learner’s permit adheres to, thus extending the supervised driver training for these teenage drivers up to one year. It is important to recognize that these restrictions are a second “step” in the graduated driver’s license law. These new restrictions are lifted after a year of driving, or when a teenager turns 17. A separate part of this legislation aimed at keeping our children safe is a provision hailed by the children’s hospitals in Ohio. Currently, children over 4 years old or 40 pounds are not required to wear a seatbelt in a rear seat. This legislation provides a requirement that children under the age of 15 must be secured by a restraining devise while occupying a vehicle. This can be accomplished by either a booster seat or a seat belt. However, this may not be enforced as a primary traffic offense; the mandatory seat belt requirement receives the secondary enforcement option. This bill is strongly supported by the AAA, motor club of Ohio and Ohio’s Children’s Hospitals. It has been a focus of the Ohio Teen Driver Coalition; a partnership of over 20 groups committed to strengthening Ohio’s teen driving laws. I urge your support of Substitute House Bill 343 and protection of our newest drivers. I ask for your favorable consideration of this bill. |
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