If we're trying to identify the worst idea of the Legislative session, HB 1221 needs to get in line behind 10% budget cuts, corporate welfare, mandatory anti-abortion lectures, the personal gun mandate, and secession.
Nonetheless, the stink of bigger turds in the Pierre pot makes the smell of Rep. Nick Moser's fart of a bill no sweeter. The Yankton Republican has tooted HB 1221 to create a task force to study teen driving.
Um, what's to study? HB 1221 calls for examining the data on teen driving. Already done:
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group. In 2009, eight teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries. Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Teen Drivers, 2010].
Rep. Moser wants to study barriers to teen driving safety. Already done:
Factors that contribute to teen crashes and injuries include the following:
- Driver inexperience: Crash rates are highest during the first year a teen has a license.
- Driving with teen passengers: Crash risk goes up when teens drive with other teens in the car. The risk increases with each additional passenger.
- Nighttime driving: For all ages, fatal crashes are more likely to occur at night, but the risk is highest for teens.
- Not wearing seat belts: Compared with other age groups, teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use.
- Distracted driving: Distractions &ndash such as talking or texting on cell phones, eating, or playing with the radio &ndash increase teen drivers' risk of being in a crash [CDC].
Rep. Moser wants to review policies to improve teen driving safety. Already done:
Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems are proven effective in keeping teens safe on the road. They help new drivers gain experience under low-risk conditions by granting driving privileges in stages. As teens move through the stages of GDL, they are given extra privileges, such as driving at night or driving with passengers.
Research indicates that the most comprehensive GDL systems prevent crashes and save lives....
If every state had a strong GDL policy, we could save 175 lives and prevent about 350,000 injuries each year [CDC].
There. In less time than it took Rep. Moser to write this bill and clear it with the LRC, I answered three of the task force's five questions. Set 100 monkeys typing on Google, and you'll probably find the rest of the answers by suppertime. Toss me a banana.
To add insult to inaction, Rep. Moser himself doesn't think his idea is worth spending money or bananas on. His bill enacts the task force only if the state gets a grant to fund it.
If I were a professor and a grad student proposed Moser's study as a paper, I'd say, "Already done. Next issue." Our apparently less rigorous Legislature keeps letting this stale idea roll along, passing it through the House and just this morning through Senate Transportation.
Rep. Moser himself can cite teen driving statistics as he calls for a concerted effort to address the number-one cause of teen deaths in South Dakota. But concerted effort is not another task force to rehash research that's already yours for the Googling. Concerted effort is bringing ideas to Pierre, hashing them out in caucus and committee, and turning them into concrete action to start saving lives now.
Senators, I encourage a hoghouse: delete Rep. Moser's task force and replace with a GDL system. Consider also adding the text of last year's proposed ban on minors' using cell phones while driving... which is one of several other recommendations the CDC makes based on the research... and which Rep. Moser voted against.
Poll, poll, poll! How crazy are they?
We get so hung up on individual rights while driving, helmet laws, seatbelt laws and texting bans. The texting ban is a no-brainer. We don't allow people to drive with blindfolds, do we? That is what texting while driving equates to. Not just teens, in fact, they are better at it than adults because they've had more practice. The key in this legislation is to remind people, "both hands on the wheel, eyes on the road". Eliminate your distractions. Every time I drive on the highway and even sometimes in town, someone will cross the line or swerve in my direction while texting. How do I know? That's easy. Their eyes are on their lap, rather than the road in front of them. It is epidemic, and while legislation doesn't solve it, it gives parents power to pursuade and causes a higher awareness among all drivers of the dangers of driving blindfolded.
The challenge with our Legislature is that it meets for 40 days or less. In that period, 500-600 bills are heard and some disposition occurs. Of course there are some doozies in there, though my doozie may be your pet idea or vice versa. Unlike some states where a committee chair can deep-six a bill, all bills submitted in South Dakota must be heard at least in one committee.
With this short period of time and so many bills, being able to have an in-depth discussion on any topic is pretty tough during committees and on the floor. This is particularly true when that big gorilla of a structural deficit and pending cuts sit in the room.
Over the years there have been summer studies (which were cut last year) and legislative study committees that grow out of a law passed by both chambers and signed by the governor. In recent years we’ve had several of those legislative study committees such as those in the area of divorce and also on children’s mental health. Recommendations from each of these studies have led to legislation, administrative rule, and action by other groups in the state.
CDC research is good and national in scope. We also have South Dakota based research from places like the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Transportation, and the Government Research Bureau at USD. We should look at the research, such as the graduated driving license (GDL) system from the CDC, with a critical eye. What may work for a GDL in Connecticut is not necessarily right for South Dakota. Such recommendations do not recognize aspects of South Dakota driving such as the many miles of gravel roads (where many crashes take place) and the remote aspect of large parts of our state.
It is necessary to have both the national and local research reviewed. Having these study committees allow not only the research to be reviewed but also develop recommendations on steps to take in light of that research that fit for South Dakota.
If I were the good professor looking at Representative Moser’s plan for this study I would say, “Go for it.†It has the components of a research study—1)statement of the problem; 2)review of the literature; 3)methodology; 4)data analysis; 5)conclusions & recommendations.
So catch that banana for the beginnings of a literature review. The hard part is analyzing this information and coming up with recommendations that work for South Dakota—and, most importantly, that will pass our very diverse Legislature.
Oh, please---------forget all this mumble jumble in the last post. Pull the text ban bill out of committee-get a vote on the floor,pass it and have the governor sign it. This "let's just look other the way(pardon the pun)mind set of some Republican legislators is ridiculous. Not only does it kill good legislation-it kills period.