It’s an exciting time for teens – turning fifteen and a half – when they can get their permit and start learning to drive. But for parents it can be pretty nerve-wracking to see their high-schooler get behind the wheel. Statistics show that 58 percent of people will get into some kind of traffic accident in their first year of driving. And in 2017, the last year for which AAA statistics are available – more than 21-thousand teens were killed or injured in crashes in California alone. In addition, accidents, mostly traffic-related, are the number one cause of death for American teens age 15-19.
Anita Lorz Villagrana is manager of community affairs and traffic safety for the Automobile Club of Southern California. She says, “The good thing is, most of these crashes are preventable. It’s really critical that parents get involved early on in their teen’s driving. And that starts with positive role modeling. Your kids have been watching you and your habits. We want to make sure parents don’t text and drive, wear your seatbelt every time, aren’t speeding, and aren’t driving drowsy or distracted.”
The trends are positive – one study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found the number of people killed in crashes involving teens went down by 56 percent from 1994-2013 – mainly due to the introduction of strong teen driver laws, in the form of graduated driver’s license (GDL) programs.
Here are the basics: there are three stages in the California GDL program, called Learner’s Permit, Provisional, and Full Privilege. In order to apply for a learner’s permit, teens have to be between 15 ½ and 18; they need to provide proof that they’ve completed an online driver’s education course or are enrolled in an integrated driver’s education and training program. Both the parent and the teen have to free up their schedules, because it takes a large time commitment to learn to drive. There are a lot of online driving courses out there – the Auto Club offers one called “How to Drive” that has 30 hours of instruction for $49.95. They also have a “StartSmart” online parent session and offer free in-person seminars for both teens and parents called “Dare to Prepare.” Find out more on their website, https://teendriving.aaa.com/CA/.
Once at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the teen has to pass a vision test and a 46-question multiple choice written traffic laws test. The DMV website has written tests for practice. The California Driver Handbook is available online or at the DMV in Palm Springs, Palm Desert, or Indio. Road sign flashcards can be a big help in studying for the test as well. When teens go to the DMV, they should bring a driver’s education completion certificate, their birth certificate (which lists their parents’ names), their social security card, and two forms of proof of residency, such as a bill for phone, water, gas or electric service addressed to the parent. For more information on the documents, go to Requirements for a California Driver License (FFDL 5) Fast Facts. Once the teen passes the written test, they get a permit, which becomes valid once it is signed by a certified driving instructor.
Six months after teens get a permit, they can apply for an “Intermediate level” provisional license. Before they can do that, they must complete a minimum of six hours of professional driver’s training. Greg James from Miller’s Driving Academy in Cathedral City says the program offers lessons that occur over a period of several months, and cost about $300 dollars. High schools no longer offer driver’s training courses, like they did in the past. Mary Perry with Desert Sands Unified School District says they do, however, team up with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to provide a two-day event called the “Every 15 Minutes” program, which teaches about distracted driving, drunk driving and personal safety. The most recent program, which included a mock-collision with a smashed-up car, took place at Palm Desert High School in late February. The program name comes from the statistic that someone in the United States dies from an alcohol/drug-related traffic collision on average every fifteen minutes.
New drivers with a permit also need to log 50 hours of supervised driving practice with an adult over age 25 who is licensed in California. The practice must include 10 hours of night driving. It should also include practice in a variety of settings, not just on the same two or three streets. The driver should be comfortable in residential areas, parking lots, freeways, roundabouts and large intersections, during different times of day and in varying weather conditions. Once they’ve had the permit for six months, they can go to the DMV, show proof of insurance and take a behind-the-wheel driving test to get to the next step: a provisional license.
Catherine Altina, a Palm Desert mom who has already gone through the process with her daughter, has a great tip for passing the road test. She suggests people, “Go down to the DMV and drive that whole area and practice. And do it a week before the test, every day, at different times of the day. Then they are familiar with it and are more comfortable. For example, at the Palm Desert DMV (off of Cook Street) there’s a turnabout, and that’s one of the features that they have to know how to do, to get in and get out.” Teens do not have to show proof of insurance to the DMV, but they must have it in the car at all times. Adding a teen driver to a parent’s insurance will definitely drive up the monthly bill, sometimes a much as a few hundred dollars. Many insurers offer good-student discounts.
The provisional license has restrictions that last for the first twelve months or until the driver turns 18. That means teens cannot drive between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., and they cannot carry passengers under the age of 20 unless there is a California licensed driver over age 25 in the car. There are a few limited exceptions. Teens cannot drive their underage siblings except in some special circumstances with a note from the parent.
The provisional license has a photo, but is printed so the license has to be held vertically to be read. This format makes it stand out, so it’s easier for businesses to distinguish it and harder for underage people to buy alcohol.
Lorz Villagrana says some kids may want to drive as soon as they’re old enough, but she cautions that parents should not feel pressured to let them drive if they’re not emotionally ready, mature enough to focus on the road, and self-disciplined enough to respect and follow the rules of the road. When today’s parents learned to drive, cell phones were rare. The distractions these days are much more pervasive, and deadly.
She adds that certain kinds of cars are better for teen drivers – an automatic 4-cylinder midsize sedan is ideal. Huge SUV’s are not the best because they are harder to park and easier to do major damage to another car in a fender bender. Hot rods are a bad idea because the teen will be tempted to speed and show off. Statistically, teen boys have a higher crash rate than girls. Parents should also encourage their teens to get enough sleep, to prevent drowsy driving.
Some of the rules are different for teens versus adults. For example, the blood alcohol limit for teens is zero percent. It is illegal for any alcohol to be in teens’ blood. Adults can use hands-free devices while driving but anyone under 18 cannot use any electronics (even hands-free ones) while driving, because it is very risky for new teen drivers to have any type of distraction. Lorz Villagrana says parents should encourage teens to put the phone on silent or put it away while in the car. Technology can help. If your teen’s phone has an Android system, you can set it to give people a message that the person is driving and can’t answer the phone. There are apps that disable texting, block calls, and send a message that you’re driving. Other apps sense when the vehicle is moving and block emailing and other distracting apps. There are special phone cases that will block all signals. Some apps even award you points for *not* texting while the car is in motion.
Once the teen turns 18 or has the provisional license for one year (whichever comes first), they should receive their permanent license in the mail, and the provisional restrictions no longer apply. The full privilege license expires on the driver’s fifth birthday after the application date. Good luck!
