New Teenage Safety Act Goes Into Effect
by Maria Wojtczak

The new law goes into effect  July 1, 2008 and is Arizona’s version of a Graduated Driver License (GDL)

Components of the New Law are:

    •    Teens will now be eligible for their permit at 15 years and 6 months and will be required to
obtain 30 hours of practice with an adult 21 years or older.

    •    Any teen under the age of 18 who receives their license after July 1, 2008 will be affected by the new law. The new law states that for the first 6 months of licensure they are only allowed to have one non-family member teen passenger in their vehicle and are restricted from driving between the hours of 12:00 am and 5:00 am.

While this law is a step in the right direction, my recommendation is to go above and beyond the requirements of the law.  Parents should drive with their teens at least 50 hours, our recommendation is 100 hours before they  get a license.  We also recommend that they have no passengers in their vehicle for the first year and at the end of that year evaluate if they can have a passenger in their vehicle.  This is the MOST dangerous time in a teen’s life and it is up to parents to provide the necessary boundaries to keep them safe.
Maria Wojtczak is the owner of DrivingMBA and is responsible for marketing and the operation of the organization.  DrivingMBA is a unique driver tutoring program geared towards better preparing teenagers for the responsibility of driving.  To learn more about DrivingMBA visit the web-site www.drivingmba.com.    Before Maria and her husband Richard, opened Driving MBA Maria worked as a consultant for over 20 years in the field of organization development working with a wide range of organizations.  In addition to the use of traditional organization development techniques, she is highly skilled in large systems change and organization learning, with formal training in both specialties. She has extensive experience in the field of adult learning concepts, and in the design and facilitation of adult learning experiences.