Teen Driving Law

Parkview Hospital tells FOX Fort Wayne that people who drive while texting or reading text messages are 50% more likely to get in a car cash. Beginning tomorrow, teens must keep their hands off their phones while driving, or there will be consequences. Larry Shivley is a drivers education teacher who has been preparing his class of new drivers for the law. Shivley says “Its a severe problem and I think next to alcohol, texting and driving is the number one problem. He teaches his students the results of using a phone and driving. “I tell them the very first day that youre driving a weapon. We kill a lot more people in Indiana with cars than we kill with guns.” Mary Aaland, the Trauma Director at Parkview Hospital, says “Teenagers are inexperienced drivers and they need to get the experience without other things interfering with that ability.” The teen drivers we spoke with said they understand the importance of this law. The graduated License Law also includes other limitations. For the first 180 days a teen cant drive between 11 at night and 5 in the morning. There are also restricted on the number of passengers they can carry, and they are no longer offered diversion programs. The only exception to the law is in the case of an emergency when the driver needs to call 9-1-1. The fine for using a phone while driving is up to 500 dollars. In addition, there is a 140 dollar court call. Many new state laws go into effect Wednesday. One is the silver alerts, much like amber alerts, but for missing or endangered adults. Another is the fire safe cigarettes law, requiring all cigarettes sold in the state to self-extinguish if not being actively smoked. Theres a mortgage foreclosure warning law. The bill protects potential home owners from mortgage fraud and identity theft. One aspect of the bill provides counseling through a mortgage fraud hotline. And the pool safety law, which mandates pool ladders to be removable. The hope is to prevent children from entering unsupervised above-ground pools.