Senator Dyson to reintroduce teen driver safety bill
GREAT MILLS --- After a weekend of carnage on Montgomery County roads in which five teenage
drivers were killed in separate accidents, Senator Roy Dyson (D-Calvert,
Charles, St. Mary's) said "enough is enough" and added that now is the time
for the General Assembly to "save lives and pass my bill."

The bill Senator Dyson is referring to is one he has submitted to the
General Assembly for more than 10 years only to see it die, first in a
Senate committee then after passage there the past two years only to watch
it die in the House of Delegates for "reasons that just don't make any
sense," he said.

Senator Dyson's teen driver safety bill would prohibit newly licensed
drivers from transporting other passengers for the first 180 days after they
are given the privilege to drive. The bill's only exception to the 180-day
requirement would allow teens to transport only immediate family members.

"That's it -- 180 days," Senator Dyson said. "A teen driver who has just
acquired their license should not be immediately distracted by other
passengers, mainly other teens in the car the minute they get the privilege
to drive. They should have that time frame to learn how to drive and not be
distracted by their friends.

Senator Dyson said he has broad support for his legislation. Last year's
bill was co-sponsored by Senators Thomas "Mac" Middleton, Jennie Forehand,
Gloria Lawlah, Sandra Schrader, Ida Ruben, Delores Kelley, Robert Hooper,
George Della, Edward DeGrange, Sr. and Brian Frosh. Senator Frosh is the
chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee which passed the bill out
of its committee last year. The bill passed in the Senate, but died in the
House Environmental Matters Committee.

 "The National Transportation Safety Board, the Motor Vehicle
Administration, Triple A, the Maryland State Police and numerous sheriffs
throughout the state and other safety organizations have consistently come
out and supported this legislation. I have introduced many bills during my
three terms in the General Assembly Session. None has almost universal
support among my constituents. Why this is a problem for some of my
colleagues has never been explained to me. Everybody tells me this is a good
idea. I don't get why it hasn't passed.

Senator Dyson said he would immediately seek co-sponsors for his legislation
and pre-file the bill so "that it is one of the first bills that is heard in
the General Assembly when it convenes in January, 2005. I'm going to work
this bill as hard as I've ever worked it for these teenagers who are putting
themselves at grave risk because the law allows them to do so."

Senator Dyson said he was "quite frankly outraged" over the tragic incidents
that occurred this past weekend in Montgomery County where five teens were
killed in three separate accidents.

Saturday, two teenagers were killed and a third seriously injured when their
vehicle slammed into a metal light pole.  The passengers were not immediate
relatives.

In another crash, two other teens, were killed when their car crashed into
trees.

The third crash involved two teens, both 16 and not immediately related,
killed the passenger while the driver was seriously injured.

Police have said that in one of the accidents, the teens were drag racing
with other teens and that this is commonplace in that area.

"I know in my heart that if my bill had passed the first year I had
introduced it, many of these horror stories such as the ones we are reading
about in the newspaper, seeing on the television or hearing about on the
radio the past few days would have been prevented," Senator Dyson said.

"I don't want parents to have to go to funerals of their youngsters. I don't
want their classmates to have to consult grief counselors and even then have
that hole in their hearts that they will never see their friends again. This
carnage -- and let's face it -- that's what it is -- has to stop. This is
happening everywhere in the state. I introduced this bill because of a death
involving teen drivers in St. Mary's County. Now, as the Montgomery County
incident this weekend shows, this is an epidemic around the state."