Teen driver tune-up: a move is underway to impose national standards on teen drivers.

• Author: Savage, Melissa

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In the early morning of Dec. 2, 2006, teenager Reid Hollister and his two passengers were making their way home on a rain-soaked, three-lane highway. Hollister had a year of driving experience under his belt but was traveling a little too fast for the unfamiliar road. He missed a curve and overcorrected, slamming into a guardrail. Hollister died at the scene.

In the year leading up to this crash, his parents followed the Connecticut graduated driver's licensing law. They served as copilots in the family car as their son logged hours of practice driving, including several trips on less traveled roads so he could gain experience in a safer environment. After getting his license, his parents insisted on knowing where he was going and how long he would be there. They took the keys away when Reid broke the rules.

After the crash, Reid's dad, Tim, thought about how his son had been taught to drive. He and his wife had followed all the advice offered under the graduated licensing law. What more could they have done?

Tim Hollister was not the only one questioning the law. A deadly string of teen crashes in 2007 led Governor M. Jodi Rell to create a task force to look at Connecticut's teen driving law. She wanted recommendations on ways to keep teens safe on the roads.

The panel worked quickly, taking only five months from the first meeting in December 2007 to fashion a new teen driving law the governor was able to sign in April 2008. The new law requires parents to attend a class on teen driving laws before their child can take the exam, doubled behind-the-wheel training from 20 to 40 hours, increased fines and penalties associated with violating teen driving laws and added an hour to the nighttime restrictions.

Even with the new law, Hollister says parents have to take responsibility.

"Parents and families are so busy these days that they often choose convenience over safety," he says. "I would caution against that. Parents should pay full attention to their teen's skills and abilities. And only after careful consideration give them the keys."

CONNECTICUT NOT ALONE

Connecticut isn't the only state looking to keep teen drivers, their passengers and other motorists safe by enacting stricter teen licensing laws. Since the mid-1990s state legislatures have passed a slew of bills aimed at teen drivers. In the last three years alone 32 states have passed 80 teen driving bills.

Responding to new research, several state legislatures...