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SDPB Radio Coverage of the South Dakota Legislature. See all coverage and find links to audio and video streams live from the Capitol at www.sdpb.org/statehouse

Teen Driving Bills: Some Win, Some Lose

Committee votes on four teen driving bills Tuesday illustrate the old maxim, “You win some, you lose some.” Bills to raise the minimum driving age and to curb the number of passengers with a teen driver failed to pass the House Transportation committee. But bills to ban teen texting and driving and to establish a statewide drivers’ education program made the cut.

State Senator Craig Tieszen brought all four teen driving bills to House Transportation. He says young drivers have a greater chance of crashing because of two factors: immaturity and distraction.

Committee members squelched the higher age for a restricted permit because rural kids have to work on the farm and drive themselves to school events. But after compelling testimony, they agreed to ban wireless communications by drivers between 14 and 18.

Molly McCaskell is a high school student and a member of the Crash Course Committee in Rapid City. She says a texting driver can travel the length of a football field in five seconds.  “Thirty three states see this as a problem, and I believe that South Dakota should see one as well.”

Another proponent, Bob Miller, gives succinct testimony on behalf of the South Dakota Funeral Directors Association: “We don’t need to pick up any more dead kids on the roads of South Dakota, dead kids who were put there by texting and phoning drivers. And you can do something about it.”

Committee members pass the texting ban, but they express doubts about its effectiveness.

Representative Dennis Feickert sums it up.

“You know I’d hate to be a law enforcement officer in this instance, because I think it’s going to be tough to enforce, but I think it’s a very important move,” he says. “I am glad to see the legislation come forth. And good luck law enforcement.”

That inability to enforce the law causes the committee to kill a proposal to limit the number of passengers riding with a teenage driver unless they are going to a school event.

The committee approved implementation of a statewide drivers’ education course and attached $50,000 funding for its implementation.