Lax Parents Giving Teen Drivers a License to Kill

A column about the tragic consequences of teen drivers violating California’s provisional license law (Highway 1, Jan. 9), brought mail from readers who expressed anguish over recent teen deaths and frustration with parents who allow their kids to skirt the law.

“You said exactly what all parents need to hear. We have to be the ones to enforce the driving laws and rules for our kids,� wrote Di Keller Kaplan of Westlake Village. “I have friends, I’m ashamed to say, who have blatantly let their 16-year-old children drive younger children around without an adult in the car. They let them drive after midnight. It’s all a total disregard for the law and the safety of their kids and everyone else on the road,� Kaplan said.

She and others said a Dec. 29 crash that killed two teenagers and injured two others would never have happened if the teens had obeyed the provisional license rules.

Kenneth Marshall Glass, the 16-year-old driver, was prohibited under the state’s graduated driver’s license law from driving with passengers under the age of 20, unless accompanied by a licensed driver 25 or older. He also was forbidden to drive between midnight and 5 a.m. His parents were out of town when the crash occurred.

The preliminary probe into the crash indicates that the Mercedes-Benz station wagon was traveling 106 mph when Glass lost control about 1 a.m. The vehicle slammed into a wall on Westlake Boulevard near Hillcrest Drive, a stretch of road with a 45-mph speed limit.

Glass and his friend, Jordan Bass, 16, died at the scene. Passengers Joshua Kuai, 16, of Westlake Village, and Jenae Chu, 16, of Thousand Oaks, survived but were hospitalized with injuries.

Enforcing the law and keeping teens safe can be tough for parents whose children see other parents ignoring the rules, readers said.

The California Highway Patrol alone issued 1,433 teenage provisional driving violations in 2001. That’s up from 832 violations in 2000, said CHP spokeswoman Anne DaVigo.

Some parents said the Westlake accident should be a wake-up call for all parents who leave their teens home alone when they are out of town.

“No matter how responsible and good the kid is, they’re still kids, and ... temptation and bad judgment can have terrible consequences,� Kaplan said.

Although the provisional license law is not difficult to understand, the state allowed a number of exceptions that enable teens to avoid or fudge the restrictions, some parents say.

For example, teens are allowed to ignore the restrictions if they have notes signed by parents, physicians, school principals or employers stating it is necessary for them to drive at restricted times or to carry young passengers without adult supervision.

Some parents said teens bent on being out unchaperoned could easily write a note and forge the signature of a parent, employer or school official. The last two, especially, are difficult to check at 2 a.m.

And law enforcement officers in California can’t stop a teen driver with kids in the car just because the driver may look as if he’s still on a provisional license. Another violation--such as speeding or failing to obey a stop sign--must be observed to warrant the traffic stop.

So some young drivers probably figure they can easily circumvent the provisional restrictions so long as they don’t get caught violating other driving laws.

For readers who expressed confusion over the provisional law, here’s a recap, as stated in the California Driver handbook.

To get a provisional license, youths must be at least 16 years old, pass the state driving test and have finished both driver education and driver training courses.

They must have had an instruction permit for at least six months, and the parents are required to sign an affidavit certifying that the teenager has had 50 hours of supervised driving practice.

Under the law, teens are allowed to drive alone with a provisional license as long as they have not had an accident or traffic violation.

During the first six months of the provisional license, teens driving between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. or at any time with passengers under 20 in the car must be accompanied by a parent or other licensed driver 25 years of age or older.

During the second six months, teen drivers can haul passengers under 20 without an adult driver in the car between the hours of 5 a.m. and midnight. But that adult--25 or older--still must be in the car from midnight until 5 a.m. After that first year and until the teen turns 18, the license remains a provisional one.

Violations of the graduated license law, traffic tickets or accidents occurring while driving with a provisional license can result in strict limitations on driving or even in a six-month license suspension, depending on the severity of the offense.

Parents also have the right to request that the Department of Motor Vehicles cancel a teen’s license if they believe the teen is driving recklessly.

Teen drivers convicted of using alcohol or a controlled substance face a mandatory one-year license suspension.

Driving privileges also can be delayed, suspended or revoked if youths are convicted of habitual truancy from school, vandalism or offenses involving firearms.

One reader asked whether insurance companies cover accident claims if they result from a crash in which the driver has violated terms of his or her provisional license.

Paul Gonzales, spokesman for the Auto Club of Southern California, said that yes, accident claims are covered for insured teen drivers even if they were in violation of their provisional license at the time of the accident. Of course, such negligence can make it hard to keep insurance coverage.

Finally, reader Rick Schlegel raised concerns about kids having access to high-powered or hard-to-handle vehicles. Because speed and inexperience seem to be a common thread in many of these fatal accidents, Schlegel questioned the wisdom of letting teens drive such vehicles.

Some parents, he wrote, “seem to only care about buying them a new Mercedes, BMW or SUV. They don’t realize what the car is capable of and just turn them loose with it.�

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Jeanne Wright cannot answer mail personally but responds in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Write to Your Wheels, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: [email protected].