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Kokua Line

By June Watanabe

Wednesday, February 2, 2000


New law aims
to make young
drivers safer

Question: Can you explain the changes in the law on when and how teen-agers can get driver's licenses?

Answer: Act 175, passed last year, toughens the requirements for young people to get their licenses, beginning Jan. 1, 2001.

A minor now is able to get a driver's permit at age 15 and a license at 16. The new law would require minors to be at least 15 to obtain a permit (although still 16 to get a license).

But more significantly, it would require teens under 18 to pass a driver's education class before obtaining a permit and to pass a behind-the-wheel training program before getting a license.

(There are bills before this year's Legislature proposing further restrictions on teen driving, including "graduated" licenses and requiring drivers under 18 to be accompanied by a licensed driver at least 21 years old between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.)

Under Act 175, the director of the state Department of Transportation must establish and certify a statewide driver education program.

However, lawmakers are being asked to extend the effective date of the driver's ed requirement to 2002, said transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali.

That's to make sure there is time to develop administrative rules and to design a standardized classroom curriculum, including course hours, she said.

Driver's education courses are offered at all public high schools on Oahu and at most neighbor island high schools, said Joanne Swearingen, an educational specialist with the Department of Education.

The classes are open to residents of Hawaii under the age of 19 and cost $10 for 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of behind-the-wheel training.

Each school handles its own program, Swearingen said.

At Roosevelt High, for example, driver's ed classes are held quarterly, said coordinator Glenn Sasaki. Enrollment is usually kept to around 30 and if there are many applicants, a lottery is held, although that procedure probably will change in the future, he said.

Call each school for details.

The Department of Education program is funded through an underwriter's fee -- $2 per auto insurance policy -- of which $1 goes to the department and $1 to the state Judiciary.

Kali said there are about 20,000 15- and 16-year-olds in the state, and that approximately 10,000 new licenses are given out each year.

"We do anticipate getting more students because of (the new law)," Swearingen said.

That means more driver's ed instructors will be needed.

A task force is developing requirements for the certification of teachers and third-party examiners, as well as "the curriculum they have to take to be certified," Kali said.

The Department of Education already is "in the process of certifying more teachers for driver's education," Swearingen said. "Unfortunately, we will be limited by the amount of money that we have."

There is a proposal before the Legislature to increase the underwriter's fee to $3, with the department getting $1.95. Act 175 directs the DOT to set a cost for the programs to enable them to be self-sufficient.

Mahalo

To a gentleman named Chris who stopped on Kapiolani Boulevard in front of Columbia Inn about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, to help me and my two babies. My car was broken down and he helped to get us going. -- Nani





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