NJ Lawmaker Calls For Mandatory Classes For Parents Of Under-18 Drivers
LINWOOD, N.J. (CBS) - As the Mainland Regional High School community prepares to bury four students killed over the weekend on the Garden State Parkway (see related story), one question looms: could the accident have been avoided with stricter oversight of teen drivers?
One of those killed in the accident, 17-year-old Casey Brenner, was driving with a "restricted" license that limited him to carrying a single passenger. But there were eight fellow football players in the SUV, which was built to carry seven people.
We'll never know if that proved to be a distraction that contributed to the deadly accident, but the sponsor of the original "one passenger" law -- a law that was clearly violated -- is concerned.
Assemblyman John Wisniewski of Sayreville, NJ (right) thinks one part of his legislation that wasn't adopted by his fellow New Jersey lawmakers needs another look.
"Legislation that would require parents or guardians to participate in an orientation session," he says, "so they understood fully the restrictions and the obligations placed on young drivers."
An inconvenience? Perhaps, but one that Wisniewski believes in necessary to protect inexperienced drivers from their own youthful indiscretion.
Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio 1060
