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To the relief of many parents, graduated licensing laws in Connecticut have prolonged the length of time it takes for teens to become licensed drivers, elongating the restricted time they spend behind the wheel. But this week the state legislature passed a law allowing the Department of Motor Vehicles to eliminate a 25-question test, which had been in effect since October 2009. Sixteen and 17 year-old drivers-to-be will no longer be required to take this additional written exam.
Regardless, the stricter licensing laws are, according to Steve Mochel, beneficial to drivers -- young and old. "Car crashes are the number one killer of teens in the U.S.," says Mochel, who, along with his wife Laura Shuler own and operate Fresh Green Light Driving Schools in Cos Cob, Conn. and Rye, NY. There are approximately 6,000 teen traffic deaths each year, says Mochel, and that number is the equivalent of a "loaded Boeing 737 crashing every nine days. With no survivors." It is, he adds, "Truly an epidemic."
In August 2008 Connecticut toughened its laws to combat crashes, injuries and deaths among 16 and 17-year-old drivers. The laws included a 25-question test that replaced a 10-question test taken by applicants seeking a learner's permit. The following year the legislature added a second test, which it gave DMV permission to remove.
The "DMV Final Exam," as it was known, was given after the young driver had completed home or driving school training and had passed the DMV road skills test.
The first 25-question test, which remains part of the licensing process, is administered when a teen seeks a learner's permit. DMV considers the required road-skills test before a license is issued to be a strong measure of whether or not a teen has learned basic safety skills necessary to operate a motor vehicle. But any 16 or 17 year-old who failed this second test prior to July 5 will still need to take the re-test of it to obtain a license.
Teens seeking a license still must pass a road-skills test, as well as log 40 hours of behind-the-wheel training. They also must attend an eight-hour safe driving class that includes two hours of instruction with one or both parents. The graduated license laws also lengthened the time for passenger restrictions, increased the curfew time and toughened other penalties to include a 30-day loss of license for violating these and other teen driving measures. Connecticut also has a zero-tolerance for teens driving under the influence and violations can bring license suspensions, fines and jail time.
Still, one test fewer is always good news.
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