L-. LOCAL/STATE taw limits teens' driving to cut 4 down on crashe 4 The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 16, 1996 - 5 LANSING (AP) - Joggers the four teen-agers drove past on a rural road that rainy afternoon said the group had -been laughing and carefree. But sec- 'onds later, a tanker slammed into the teens' car, leaving 15-year-old Colette Brnes and two other girls dead in a pile of mangled metal.. Dne of Colette's friends -- also 15 d driving with a learner's permit but without the required adult - had run a stop sign, sending the car into the truck's path. The impact spared only a 17-year-old boy in the back. In the 14 months since, Colette's par- ents have filled some of the emptiness with a crusade trying to prevent other families from the same tragedy. Lynda and Scott Barnes helped push a new ',aw they think could have saved their ughter by making sure the driver was better trained. "We had to do something - we're losing our kids," said a teary Lynda Barnes, surrounded in her Mason home by pictures of Colette and her two other daughters. "I've got another one com- ing up and I don't want to lose any more." The law, passed last month, makes Michigan one of a growing number of 1ates to establish a multi-step licensing 'stem that limits teens' freedom to drive until they gain experience. Eleven states now have such "gradu- ated licensing" requirements, and many others have approved less comprehen- sive restrictions. At least eight more states are looking at placing additional limits on teen drivers. "It's a major problem in all the states with young drivers," said state Rep. an Gustafson (R-Williamston) the A1ichigan bill's sponsor. "Quite frankly, it's a national epidemic." Encouraging teens to use seat belts and not drive after drinking has dropped teen-age crash fatalities from ~their peak in 1986. But motor vehicle accidents still are the top killer of teens and are on the rise again. And though teens made up 5.1 per- 'tent of the country's licensed drivers in ~994, they accounted for 13.9 percent deaths. Those in the safety community say a lot is riding on their hopes for graduat- ed driver's licensing, because experts have few - if any - ideas left about how to make teens safer drivers. Studies have shown between 5 per- cent and 16 percent reductions in youth crashes in places that have some gradu- ated licensing provisions. The restrictions appear to work because they address the chief problem for youth drivers: not alcohol, or even a higher tendency to take risks, but inex- perience, several experts said. "It's really to train people to drive the same way we train people to do a lot of other complex tasks - a little bit at a time," said Rob Foss, with the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center. Maryland was first to enact some features of graduated licensing in 1979. But only in the last year or two have a larger number of states given the plan serious attention, safety experts say. "There's increasing recognition that what we're doing isn't working," said Patricia Waller, who authored the grad- uated licensing concept 30 years ago and now heads the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. Kentucky and Michigan - which along with Florida approved graduated licensing this year - are considered to have the most extensive programs. Thirteen-year-old Brenden Gunnell of Haslett is horrifiedat the hoops he'll have to jump through to get a license under Michigan's new law. "I hate it," he said. "I'n going to want to go on dates, and now (my dad) will have to drive me." When the law takes effect in April, young drivers no longer will need just driver's education and 30 days with a learner's permit to get a license. Instead, they will have to go through a complex three-stage process. Michigan teens will have to stay con- viction- and accident-free to progress at each stage. And a "zero tolerance" law already in effect holds teens to a legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.02 percent, com- pared with the 0.10 percent for adults. What other states are doing varies widely. But most states still have attached few rules to getting an unrestricted dri- ver's license. Only 29 require a learn- er's permit at all. State moves to tree steps for licensing LANSING (AP) - Young drivers in Michigan will be held to a new standard when the state's new graduated licensing system takes effect in April. The new system begins earlier than now - when teens are 14 years, 9 months old, instead of 15 -but doesn't end until after they are 17. Teens could qualify for a level-one license allowing them to drive only with a parent or someone over 21 with a parent's approval after completing driver training and a writing test. Once they turn 16, students then could move up to level two and drive alone after holding the permit for six months and practicing their driving for at least 50 hours with a parent accompanying them. They also would have to have completed a second driver education segment, passed a newly reinstated road test and gone without a moving violation for the 90 days before.. The level-two license bans the teen from driving between midnight and 5 a.m. unless going to work or accompanied by a parent. After turning 17, spending six months at level two and going 12 consecutive months without a moving violation or accident, the teen would be eligible for an unrestricted dri- ver's license. Michigan's current system says 15-year-olds can get a learner's permit, allowing them to drive with a parent after they complete driver's education - which usually means six hours of road practice and 30 hours of class instruction - and take a written test. After turning 16 and having the permit for at least 30 days, teens can get an unrestricted license. AP PHOTO Scott and Lynda Barnes hold a picture of their daughter, Colette, in their Mason, Mich., home on Oct. 9. Colette was killed in a car crash 14 months ago, and since then the pair has worked to get a law passed in Michigan that establishes a multi-step licensing system that limits teens' freedom to drive until they gain experience behind the wheel. " + Is air faretoo eXpensive? Do you want to be home " "nAsAdetiin iaar o e iclo r o for the holidays? and Supply, I advertise in The Mihigan Dat.ly FIDAW Ybecause they reach 100i.m customners, FIasstiediDpartmNtnat 764- A.7,dorfstWpaby IIOMEONevery daxy. Reoas nzbie rates, atgreat 1}I1Iidt wu taiIt' freliable sales representatives ae fe of the IDE a O42D things that make the ar| my ACCor E advertisingsd 4 +1..i:v::".: "\The Hfomeward Bound section tf Jaid4 will be published on Nov. 8. ! 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Sponsored by: ARMY ROTC Thursday October 17 4:00 pm Contact: North Hall- Sponsored by: NAACP Thursday October 17 Cobblestone Farms, 2781 Packard 10:00 pm Contact: Loren McGhee 528.0540 Thursday October 17 Pedication of the Lurie Tower, Music & Light show at 9:00 pm 47 Friday October 18 Hill Auditorium 7:30 pm Saturday October 19 Tailgate at the Track & Tennis building: Featuring Do Schembechler 10:00 am 9 um Saturday October 19 Michigan Stadiumn Kickoff 12:30 pm "The night shines in black & Silver" Sponsored b~y: The African American Programming Task Force Saturday Octob'er 19 Power Center 5:00 pm -1:00a m Featuring: Hustle Contest Ms. Jazzy Dress & Mr. GQ Contests Friday October 18 Parade down S.University to S.State to N.University to the Power Center 6:00 pm Featurin Men and Women's Glee Club, Michigan Pep Band, Orbitron, and much more! Attire: Semi-formal, masquerade masks'