A Dec. 26, 2010 article in The Times Herald reported on the sad news that Pennsylvania lawmakers failed to pass a law that would increase teenage driving safety. The article quotes PA Representative Josh Shapiro as planning to re-introduce the same legislation in 2011 which passed in the House of Representatives in 2009.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s Senate amended the House Bill in 2010 to such an extent that it eliminated nearly all of the safety provisions. Accident statistics from both PA and the USA show that the more young passengers are in a car with a teenage driver, the higher the risk of occurrence of serious accidents. The House voted to reduce the number of unrelated teenage passengers to 1 while the Senate Bill would permit up to 3 unrelated teenage passengers. Having 4 teenagers legally in the same car is a recipe for disaster!

Equally absurd to this author is the Senate’s insistence that any ban on teenage drivers’ hand-held use of cell phones be a secondary offense. No one can dispute that teenage drivers’ inexperience is magnified when they are also texting/talking while driving. Preventing the police from issuing citations for this conduct alone will remove a major deterrent from reducing teenage driving while texting.

As a Pennsylvania auto accident attorney, I have represented many innocent victims who have been injured by negligent teenage drivers. If you or a family member has been hurt in a PA car accident, please call me ASAP at 800-980-4842. My website of www.NewellLaw.com. details my 30 years of experience in representing PA personal injury victims.