North Dakota Commissioner Proposes New Restrictions for Teen Drivers

Article

North Dakota’s insurance commissioner is proposing new restrictions on teenage drivers, saying it should reduce youth car crashes and deaths and cut drivers’ auto insurance bills.

Adam Hamm’s proposal would bar 14- and 15-year-olds from driving between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m, and from using cell phones while driving, he said at a news conference to outline the idea.

North Dakota is one of the few states that does not have a graduated driver’s license program for young people, Hamm said. Teenagers make up 7 percent of North Dakota’s population, but they accounted for 22 percent of the state’s fatal traffic crashes last year, he said.

“When you look at the amount of crashes that we have in North Dakota involving teens, when you look at the amount of fatalities that we have involving teens, to me, a graduated driver’s license in North Dakota makes sense,” Hamm said.

Hamm, a Republican, is running for his first four-year term as insurance commissioner. His Democratic opponent, Fargo state Rep. Jasper Schneider, said it was odd that Hamm would promote teen driving restrictions as a campaign issue two weeks before the election.

“We’re all in favor of safer teen drivers, but it seems to me the focus needs to be on … things that are the core issue of the campaign, like bringing about increased access to affordable and quality health care,” Schneider said.

Schneider said Hamm was “putting forward a plan for teen driving, when he doesn’t have a plan of his own for teen health insurance. We’ve got 15,000 kids in North Dakota who go about their day … without health insurance.”

Under Hamm’s proposal, a 16-year-old would be able to drive without restrictions if he or she had at least 40 hours’ supervised driving experience, including 10 hours of driving at night; no traffic tickets; and no history of drinking or abusing drugs, Hamm said.

Current North Dakota law allows 14-year-olds to drive with an instructional permit when accompanied by an adult who has at least three years’ driving experience. Once a 14-year-old driver has had a permit for six months and completed driver’s education training, he or she may drive a parent or guardian’s vehicle without a supervisor.

Hamm’s proposal would not allow a young driver to get a learner’s permit until he or she was at least 14 years and six months old with no previous traffic infractions or history of drinking or drug abuse.

The teenager would have to pass a written test of his or her knowledge of driving rules and a vision test. When driving, the teenager would have to be accompanied by an adult; avoid driving between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., and not use a cell phone while driving.

Once the driver turned 16, he or she would have to pass a driving test to get an intermediate license, Hamm’s proposal says. The license would allow a teenager to drive unaccompanied if he or she did not use a cell phone, carry more than one passenger who was younger than 18, or drive between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

To qualify for an intermediate license, a teenager would have to be at least 15 years old, with no traffic infractions; no history of drug abuse or drinking; and at least 20 hours’ supervised driving experience.

“What we’re trying to do is stop teenage drivers from driving around the streets, talking on the phone, three or four other teenagers in the car with them, driving around at midnight or 1 o’clock in the morning,” Hamm said.