Rep. Bishop Calls For Action To Prevent Distracted Driving

10/29/09 -- Today Congressman Tim Bishop made the following statement at a Transportation & Infrastructure Committee on the Problem of Distracted Driving:

It is the responsibility of this committee to ensure that our nation’s roadways are not only up to the task of connecting our communities and promoting commerce, but also with protecting the safety of American’s, both directly and indirectly involved with transportation.

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While all of the jurisdictions and responsibilities of this committee are important and intertwined, I can guarantee you that the first thought of any parent as they watch their child back out of their driveway is not about financing mechanisms to pay for road improvements or the nuances of congestion mitigation. Their primary concern is the safety of that child until he or she returns home.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 3,406 young drivers aged 15-20 were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2006. An additional 4,569 others, including teen and other passengers in vehicles with the young drivers, and occupants in other cars, were killed in these crashes. All in all, in 2006, nearly 8,000 people lost their lives in crashes involving young drivers. Most importantly, experts have shown a clear link between a lack of driver education and experience and a rise in teen driving fatalities.

Unfortunately, safety is often secondary in the minds and actions of decision makers. Yet another reason to pass a six-year reauthorization of the surface transportation bill is to enact the robust safety provisions included in Title II of the bill considered by this Subcommittee in June. It is my hope that this title will be further strengthened before the full committee considers the bill.

One effort towards strengthening the safety provisions of the highway reauthorization bill is the inclusion of the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act or STANDUP Act that I introduced along with my colleagues Congressmen Castle and Van Hollen. This legislation would encourage states to implement a three-stage graduated driver licensing system to acclimate novice drivers to the fundamentals and responsibilities of the road. Among other provisions, the bill would also encourage a prohibition on nighttime driving during the learner’s permit and intermediate stages, as well as implement a passenger restriction prohibiting inexperienced drivers from traveling with inexperienced passengers.

Furthermore, the STANDUP Act compliments my good friend, Congresswoman McCarthy’s, texting legislation by prohibiting all non-emergency cellular devices for new drivers. My bill also encourages the Secretary of Transportation to adopt other requirements that he deems appropriate, such as specific time frames for learner’s and intermediate stages, at least 30 hours behind-the-wheel, supervised driving by an adult, automatic delay of full licensure if permit holder commits an offense; or other requirements.

I have been fortunate to have the assistance of organizations that share my concerns for our teen drivers. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Allstate Insurance Company, and others from the SafeRoads4Teens coalition have been instrumental in developing and promoting the STANDUP Act and I thank them for their help.

I am also interested in helping states better develop drivers’ education programs that will better prepare inexperienced drivers for the rigors of the road. According to the GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test, 20.1 percent of drivers on the road – or roughly 41 million licensed Americans – would not pass a written drivers test exam if taken today. According to the GMAC report, seventy-two percent of drivers could not properly identify a typical safe following distance from the car in front of them and only 15 percent of drivers knew what to do at a traffic light displaying a steady yellow signal (stop if it is safe to do so).

These are startling revelations, but not surprising when you learn that 15 states do not require basic driver education for teen drivers, 19 states do not require any classroom training before licensing, and that driver education curricula have not been formally updated since the 1940s.

I could go on and on with statistics that would shock and dismay the traveling public, but in the interest of time I will merely say that I am developing new legislation to encourage states to modernize and standardize drivers’ education requirements.

Source: Congressman Tim Bishop