Montco mom goes to D.C. to push teen driving limits
Auto Insurance Quotes : WASHINGTON – A Lower Pottsgrove mother whose teenage son died in a November 2009 car crash joined other grieving parents in the nation’s capital to urge federal lawmakers to adopt graduated driver licensing laws for beginning teen drivers.
Marlene Case said “words will never describe the profound and permanent depth of the death of my 17-year-old son, Andrew” as she attended a news conference at a U.S. Capitol meeting room Tuesday to throw her support to the federal STANDUP Act, or the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act, which would set minimum standards for young, inexperienced drivers.
“I have worked in the Pennsylvania Legislature to change Pennsylvania’s teen driving laws, but I do not think the states are moving fast enough,” said Case, who urged Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to join the national lifesaving effort.
The STANDUP Act would place restrictions on teen drivers, including restrictions on nighttime driving, the number and age of passengers teen drivers could carry, and cell phone usage. The act, which was originally proposed in the 111th Congress but was not adopted, is slated to be re-introduced this week in the new Congress.
Case joined U.S. Senate and House sponsors, as well as parents, pediatricians, safety advocates and insurance executives, to support establishing model graduated driver licensing laws.
“Every teen in every state should be protected by an effective and comprehensive GDL law,” said Jackie Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, an alliance of consumer, health, safety and insurance groups that supports STANDUP.
Officials said uniformity in teen driving laws could come to fruition if Congress enacts STANDUP, which would establish minimum requirements for states’ GDL laws, including teen driver cell phone and texting bans, and encourage states to adopt the laws within three years.
The law would provide incentive grants, to states that adopt the minimum requirements, to help states with GDL education and enforcement. For states that don’t adopt the requirements, the federal government would withhold a percentage of certain federal highway construction program funds.
