Oregon teen driving laws scrutinized after West Linn, Oregon City students' deaths

As the Portland area mourns three teenagers killed in separate crashes last weekend, Oregon transportation policymakers worry that existing restrictions on young drivers are losing their effectiveness when it comes to preventing traffic deaths and injuries.

In 1999, the state passed a graduated driver's license law for people under 18, requiring a period of supervised driving and a six-month ban on having other teenagers in the car.

Over the next eight years, the state saw a dramatic payoff: The number of crashes involving teen drivers plummeted 29 percent, from 6,001 to 4,279.

But since 2008, "the progress has flattened out," said Troy Costales, the Oregon Department of Transportation's safety division administrator.

In fact, there have been recent years when state safety experts cringed at dramatic spikes in fatal crashes involving young drivers between the ages of 16 and 20.

From 2009 to 2010, for example, the number of fatal wrecks involving teen drivers jumped from 33 to 46, according to ODOT records. In 2013, the last year that data is available, there were 35.

Oregon's graduated licensing program may have reached the limits of its ability to reduce serious crashes on the roads, Costales said.

"Initially, we saw gains far greater than what we expected," he said. "But with things leveling off, the question from a legislative point of view is what's the next step? What else can we do?"

Among other things, Costales and other traffic safety experts have encouraged lawmakers to put stricter limits on when drivers under 18 can have other teens riding along.

Oregon's Graduated Driver's License

Laws apply to drivers under 18.

*

Must have an instruction permit for at least six months and be able to certify that they've had at least 50 hours of supervised driving practice before starting instruction.

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Must complete an approved driver training course or complete an additional 50 hours of supervised practice with a driver over 21 who has had a license for at least three years.

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Must pass DMV written and driving tests.

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During the first six months with a license,

teens can't drive with a passenger under 20 who isn't an immediate family member.

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During the second six months,

teens can't drive with more than three passengers under the age of 20.

* For the first year,

teens may not drive between midnight and 5:00 a.m., unless they're going to work, driving to school (and no other transportation is available) or are accompanied by a licensed driver over 25.

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As of 2008, drivers under 18 cannot operate a vehicle while using mobile communication devices for either texting or talking, including hands-free devices.

Tougher passenger rules, they say, might have prevented the deaths of Cooper Hill and Antonio Caballero on Washington's State Route 14.

On Saturday morning, Hill and Caballero were among four West Linn High School students in a Honda Accord involved in a three-vehicle crash in the Columbia River Gorge. A 16-year-old classmate was behind the wheel.

The Washington State Patrol has declined to release the teen driver's name as it continues to investigate the crash, so it's unknown whether the boy was violating the graduated driver laws that both states have established.

For the first six months after receiving a license, drivers under 18 in Oregon and Washington are prohibited from having passengers under 20, except for family members. During the second six months, they can ferry no more than three under-20 passengers in a vehicle.

Costales said it may be time to increase those restrictions by an additional six months, noting that research has repeatedly shown teen drivers -- especially boys -- take more risks when their friends are in the passenger seats.

Last year, a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study found that a teen driver's risk of death per mile increases by 44 percent with one teen passenger in the car and quadruples with three or more teen passengers.

Bruce G. Simons-Morton, a traffic-safety researcher with the National Institutes of Health, said boys are more likely to speed, drive aggressively and run red lights when they're driving with other boys.

"It's hard for a parent to understand when teens get together on their own, how they can be so different," said Simons-Morton, whose study on teens driving under the influence of friends was recently published in the journal Health Psychology.

His research found that adolescent boys are highly attuned to social norms and peer pressure not only at school, but in traffic.

"Behind the wheel, they're likely to act based on a perception that their friends in the car also drive in a risky manner or are risk-accepting," Simons-Morton said.

A handful of states with graduated-licensing programs require at least a year before a driver under 18 can have other teens in the car. But most require six months, which Simons-Morton called "a pretty good period of deflection."

Still, he said, the states with the greatest restrictions tend to have the lower crash and citation rates among teen drivers.

The Oregon Department of Transportation estimates that the crash rate for drivers 20 years old and younger is double that of the population as a whole.

Madison West, the 18-year-old Oregon City High School student who died in a head-on crash in Clackamas County on Friday night, was driving solo and had her license for nearly two years, Oregon DMV records show. Police say they may never know what happened in the fatal collision.

Hiker Jamie Vandevert shot this photo of crash Saturday hat killed Cooper Hill and Antonio Caballero on State Route 14.

Nationally, motor vehicle crashes are the nation's leading cause of death among teenagers. But in Oregon, more teens died from suicide than traffic crashes in 2013, the last year that statistics are available, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

Before graduated licensing, Oregon required that teen drivers only pass a written test on traffic rules and a driving test.

The state is already ahead of most others with its complete ban on drivers under 18 using cell phones and other mobile devices, even when they're hands-free.

Costales said there have also been discussions of increasing the driving age to 17 or 18, while further restricting the hours of driving.

Currently, during the first year of holding a license, teens can't drive between midnight and 5 a.m. unless they're headed to work, driving to school when no other transportation is available or are accompanied by a licensed driver older than 25.

But with rural Oregon's open spaces, lack of mass transit and farming culture, "it's apparent from what we've heard that going much further with some of those restrictions would create hardships," Costales said.

-- Joseph Rose
503-221-8029
jrose@oregonian.com
@pdxcommute

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