Driving in Georgia

A mother in Kennesaw, Georgia, has come up with an idea to identify new teen drivers on the road. She has created large magnets to be placed on cars of teens, Caution: Newly Licensed, which she sells nationwide. Now she has the support of a Georgia state senator to get a bill passed to require all newly-licensed teens to have this magnet and a window decal displayed on their cars: "Should Georgia Teen Drivers Sport Warning Magnets?", posted on the website of The Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 5, 2009.

Anyone who has driven in Georgia, especially around Atlanta, would sympathize with this mother's campaign, I think. I have lived in several states, and the drivers here are among the worst I have ever encountered. Unfortunately, LOTS of people drive as if they've just been newly licensed. Just last night, on our return from Lithonia, where we dropped our daughter off at a party, we were turning right at a green light when four drivers turned left right in front of us: one, two, three, four, without slowing down, as if they had absolutely no knowledge of right-of-way rules. Then, later, on our way home after picking up our daughter, someone ran a red light as ours was green, and at least two people absolutely RACED through caution lights. These experiences and observations are typical. AutoAdvantage Road Rage Survey reveals that Atlanta is among the top five cities as the worst for road rage.

I think part of the problem here is that Georgia does not have a good driver's education program. To get her learner's permit, our daughter attended several classes and then had to complete only a few hours of in-car instruction with a licensed instructor, hours that she completed in one weekend. And I wasn't impressed with the driving instruction, at all. To get her unrestricted license, our daughter is expected to complete 40 hours of driving under parental instruction. But I wonder how many teens actually complete those 40 hours. Susie Kessler, the mother who is marketing the magnets for new drivers says:

I talk to the state licensing people that actually give these kids the test … and I’ve asked them how many of these kids have really had 40 hours with parents. And they’ll tell you [some of the kids] don’t know how to turn the lights on in the car. It’s scary. Even if they do the minimum of 40 hours, that’s nothing.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, car crashes are the leading cause of teenage deaths, "accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group.1 In 2005, twelve teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries." Those are awful statistics.