National graduated driver's license bill not popular in Utah

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Derek Peterson focuses on backing a sedan straight into a parking space during a driver's ed class at Brighton High School.

With similar laser-like focus, the 15-year-old plans to buy his own car and test for the Utah driver's license on Oct. 14 — his 16th birthday.

Peterson is so dedicated to his dreams of a driver's license and car that he is taking an early morning class in the summer that sometimes requires him to arrive at 5:30 a.m. to learn to drive.

But if some members of Congress get their way, the rite of passage a driver's license symbolizes would be delayed until age 18.

Two identical bills known as STANDUP, one going through the House and one making its way through the Senate, would make the national age 16 for obtaining learner permits. The bills have nighttime and passenger limitations — and a complete ban on cell phone usage — until drivers are 18, when they could obtain an unrestricted driver's license.

The goal behind the national graduated driver's license, meaning teens would receive driving privileges in steps, is to reduce traffic fatalities. In 2008, about 3,500 teens ages 15-19 were killed in car accidents in the United States, including 29 in Utah.

Regardless of the bills' intentions, Peterson and other students in his Brighton High driver's ed class oppose it.

"I think it makes driving a bit more difficult," the sophomore said. "Dating would be difficult. Do you want your parents to drive you on a date?"

Peterson understands there are plenty of incapable teens behind the wheel, and he suggests a compromise to allow teens who do well on their driving test to get licenses before 18.

Megan Rimmasch, also 15, notes the changes in the lives of 16-year-olds as they transition into adulthood.

"At 16, a lot of people are getting a job," she said. "They are in athletics. Also, you're getting more social in high school. Being able to get yourself around is nice."

Josh Christensen, 15, will be on the yearbook staff in the fall. On days when he's photographing events before and after school, he will be unable to ride the bus. His parents work and can't always drive him. He said he's not familiar with the Utah Transit Authority bus schedules, except during ski season when he rides up the canyons.

"I don't want to wait until I am 16 to get a learner's permit," he said.