A new survey released by Allstate Insurance finds that many driving-age teenagers and their parents need a much stronger understanding of the state’s teen driving safety laws.
The survey also found that parents play the biggest role in education and enforcement, but need to do much more in order for their kids to get better behind the wheel.
The survey, was launched to mark the one-year anniversary of Pennsylvania’s strengthened Graduated Driver Licensing laws, which went into effect December 27, 2011.
The tougher restrictions include:
65 hours of supervised driving hours before licensure (including 10 hours of night driving and five hours of inclement weather driving;
Passenger limits for junior license holders with the exception of family members;
A curfew for junior license holders between the hours of 11:00pm and 5:00am;
And a mandatory six-month holding period following one’s 16th birthday before eligibility to apply for a driver’s license
There are major contradictions between parents and teens surveyed when it comes to enforcement. The majority of parents say they enforce the new driving restrictions but nearly half of the teens surveyed, disagree.
But police say they're not surprised. “When we have to call parents especially after 11 o’clock or if there’s too many passengers and we need to offload some of them and we need parents to pick ‘em up…it’s unnerving to find that some of them didn’t even know their kids were in violation,” said Upper Gwynedd Township Police Chief David Duffy.
If you want to make sure you and your teenaged driver are following the rules of the road in your state, click on the links for Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
