Graduated Student Driver Licensing Laws: Information for Parents and Teens You Need To Know

If you have had a teen driver recently driving school, the graduate driver licensing (GDL) laws have been proven to prevent teen driver crashes. Well known research shows that most teen crashes involve “newbie” mistakes. Graduated driver licensing is a 3-stage teaching strategy to introduce driving privileges to new drivers while they get experience over time.

• The first stage (learner) allows teens the opportunity to get experience while being closely supervised by an adult.
• The second stage (probationary/intermediate) gives a new auto driver the opportunity to drive alone but with certain restrictions designed to limit exposure to high-risk driving conditions.
• The third stage (full licensure) allows teens to drive alone without any restrictions.

Graduated Student Driver Licensing Has 4 Key Objectives:

• To expand the learning process - provides new drivers with varied and supervised practice to get experience. It has a holding period between the time a teen gets a permit and can take a licensing exam.
• Minimize crash risk exposure - by requiring new teen drivers to get experience in lower-risk driving conditions such as daytime driving, without teenage passengers, before driving in higher-risk conditions.
• Improve driving skills - by encouraging new drivers to practice while being supervised by a competent adult.
• Increase motivation for safe-driving behaviors - by acknowledging safe driving behaviors and reducing teen driver’s privileges for reckless or unsafe behavior.

Graduated student driver licensing laws vary by state. In Michigan parents must first be reminded that law sets the minimum requirements, and parents can encourage their teens to at least practice the higher recommended standards. These include the following recommendations:

• Recommended by most teen driving experts that for new teen candidates that teens should wauit until at least 16 years of age unless it is necessary for your rural community and farming necessities.
• Give at least 50 hours of adult-supervised driving practice with a minimum of 10 hours of nighttime driving (more is better).
• Encourage at least 6 months of practice time from the time your teen gets a learner’s permit to the time he can go for a license.
• No cell phone use or texting in the car unless it is parked.
• Recommend that no teen passengers for at least the first 6 months of driving after the license and no more than one teen passenger for at least the second 6 months of driving.
• Allow no unsupervised driving between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am.
• Parents should continue to supervise and expose your teen to new and varied driving conditions of increasing complexity even after licensure.

Parents: The Intercession to Save Teens’ Lives

Although GDL laws are passed state legislature, it is the parents who practically implement and enforce them. Parents’ need to be model for seat belt use and can also lay down the rules about substance use, peer student passengers, mobile device and cell phone use. Parents need to understand they are in the best position to make a difference by taking deliberate preventative steps to ensure teens gradually and systematically get the needed experience both before and after getting a driver’s license. Our law firm knows that being an engaged parent who sets and enforces reasonable rules that provide the appropriate supervision can be helpful. In fact, teens thank their parents who provide them support, and monitoring around driving. In many cases the parents style gets better results like giving balanced but authoritative style of parenting. This style suggested teens were less than half as likely to be in crashes than teens whose parents were less involved. Plus, your teen is far more likely to wear seat belts, avoid drive while intoxicated, and stop use of cell phones while driving.

Always the first step with teens is the parents must be prepared to fill their role in providing guidance to them in a soft authoritative parenting with some effective monitoring of their own children. In many cases, the essential part seems to be here for parents to take notice and be responsive to their teen’s increasing skill level and displays of responsibility, while setting firm rules around safety measures. As a parents you need to be aware that in order for teens to stick to parent monitoring and rules, it’s  critical to you convey to teens the knowledge that the rules are in place for their safety, not as a means parent control over them.

Need Teenage Car Accident Lawyers?

You can trust the knowledgeable team at The Joseph Dedvukaj Firm to fight for you. We offer free consultations, 24/7 availability, and a 99% success rate when it comes to winning cases. Our goal is to maximize your award so the personal injury you sustained does not have a detrimental effect on your life. Call now 248-352-2110 or toll free 866-HIRE-JOE.