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Stafford supervisors should heed Youth Driver Task Force's suggestions. Date published: 10/26/2004
Stafford supervisors should follow task force's suggestions regarding teen driving STAFFORD COUNTY parents and friends still grieving over last year's tragic loss of students in traffic accidents on area roads can take heart: County officials are paying attention to the issue of teenage driving. Stafford's Youth Driver Task Force presented its final report to supervisors on Oct. 19 and, as we noted when the group presented an interim report in June ["Teen road deaths," June 24], its suggestions should be heeded. The report runs the gamut of driving issues from physical problems with Stafford's once-rural roads to advanced training of young drivers and strengthening Virginia's graduated driver's-license laws. Of particular note among the suggestions: Including parents in the driver's education curriculum. Parents must understand the risks their children face on the road and the restrictions on the graduated driver's licenses. All parents of high-school-age students--not just those with driving-age children--should be included in these efforts. Parents should know the facts and pitfalls before allowing their offspring to get in a car--whether the child is the driver or a passenger. Lobbying the General Assembly to strengthen the laws governing graduated licenses. Three Colonial Forge High School students died earlier this year as the result of crashes in which 16-year-old drivers were transporting more than one other teen friend--apparently in violation of the law. But state statute now classifies graduated-license infractions as only secondary offenses, meaning a law-enforcement officer can enforce them only if the driver has been stopped for a more serious offense. Could Stafford sheriff's deputies have prevented the deaths of these three? We'll never know, but lawmakers need to at least give them the opportunity to do so. Enhancing parking policies at schools. The task force rightly applauds the school system for beginning to tackle this matter. Brooke Point High School has begun a pilot program in which first-year drivers are issued a purple parking pass. The color signifies to school and law-enforcement officials that the student vehicles should contain only one passenger. Some may decry this as a high-school version of Big Brother, but instead think of it as just a protective older brother. As many have noted, improving teenage driving must be a team effort. The Stafford task force deserves thanks for getting the work started in their county.
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