New Jersey Teen Accident Prevention Law Already In Controversy
We have to wait till next year to see if Kyleigh’s Law will actually reduce the number of car accidents involving teen drivers, but the legislation has already generated plenty of heat.
Just under two weeks ago, Governor Jon Corzine signed the legislation that will require drivers below the age of 21 who don’t have full driving privileges yet, to display an identifying decal on their vehicles, allowing officers to distinguish them from others. The law is first of its kind to be passed in the country, and the main intent is to make these younger and inexperienced drivers easily identifiable.
The law is named after Morris County teenager Kyleigh D’Alessio, who died in a car accident involving a teenage driver. The decal itself will be a small rectangle affixed to both front and back license plates, enabling police to identify these drivers easily. According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Safety, cops will identify teen drivers violating curfews, or passenger restrictions with the help of the decals.
Not surprisingly, teen drivers have not been too happy about a law they say is equivalent to profiling on the basis of age. One attorney in Rockaway has already filed a lawsuit to overturn the law on behalf of his teenage son and nephew. According to lawyer Gregg D Trautmann who’s suing the governor and state of New Jersey, the law would give police a free pass to pull over and harass young drivers needlessly. Besides, criminals including sex offenders, would be able to identify young drivers through the decals on their cars.
However, New Jersey’s car accident lawyers and law enforcement agencies have wholeheartedly supported the bill. It’s a fact that accidents are the number one cause of teen deaths. According to the Teen Driver Study Commission, there were 55,792 teen-related accidents in New Jersey in 2006. These left 48 teen drivers and 19 teen passengers dead. The Teen Driver Study Commission had made a set of recommendations to Governor Corzine, including the development of an identifier that could mark a vehicle driven by a new driver with a permit or probationary license, and make the vehicle easily identifiable.
We need to be making more efforts to instill safe driving practices among our teen drivers, and if an identifying system helps us monitor and correct teen driving behavior than this Monmouth County personal injury lawyer is all for it.
