The Arizona Legislature has proposed a bill to restrict teens driving during their first six months of being licensed. This bill, also known as The Teenage Driver Safety Act, proposes to restrict both times driven and occupancy of a vehicle driven by a new driver. The bill was proposed by state representative Barbara Leff, who feels that the bill will cut down distractions for beginner drivers.

The act would stipulate one passenger under the age of 18 in the car unless they are of close relation to the driver. The act also says that drivers will not be allowed to drive between midnight and 5 a.m.

This act is just an extra punishment; all it does is punish some who have already been caught doing something. There is no way that anyone can check every car with teenagers inside to find out if their ages. Unless the Arizona state police wants to pull over every car full of teenagers they see to check IDs and question their genealogy, this law can not be accurately enforced; officers will have to check after the car has already been pulled over for another violation.

As for the midnight to 5 a.m. part of the act, there is already a curfew for those less than 18, making this act just overkill that our state politicians can use to claim they are actually working. It can be guaranteed that those who supported this law will make references to it during next state election and how hard they “work” to protect drivers.

Teenagers may not be the best drivers, but all this act does nothing to help them become better drivers, it’s just another slap in the wrist for teenagers who are caught driving recklessly. If they really wish to stop bad teenage drivers, they should make getting a driver’s license more difficult to get. Considering that some driving tests include of making a three point turn and driving around the block there is a lot more the state can do.

In 2004, Arizona was ranked ninth in the nation for fatal car accidents. The state does need to crack down on driver safety and teenagers are a good place to start, but punishing them after they have already been pulled over for a bad act doesn’t solve anything. If the state legislators would make a driver license harder to get, it would affect the entire population, not just a group that has been stereotyped as being bad drivers.

Whether the state legislators are true in their commitment to stop accidents or not, they should consider a more intelligent way of going about working it into law. Instead, they make a soft bill that neither solves the problem or sets up other bills to follow. This seems like just another band wagon that politicians can hitch themselves to.