BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2464
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Date of Hearing: April 19, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 2464 (Huffman) - As Amended: April 6, 2010
SUBJECT : Provisional driver's license
SUMMARY : Modifies statutes governing provisional driver's
licenses drivers between the ages of 16 and 18. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Provides that a provisional license permit is not valid until
after the applicant completes the first lesson of
behind-the-wheel instruction.
2)Provides that a person is not qualified to receive a
Certificate of Completion of Behind-the-Wheel Driver Training
unless the person records, maintains, and submits to a driving
school or independent licensed driving instructor a supervised
driving log showing that he or she has completed 50 hours of
supervised driving practice.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows for the issuance of a provisional driver's license to a
person at least 16 years of age but less than 18 years of age,
under certain conditions including prior completion of 50
hours of supervised driving practice.
2)Prohibits a provisional license holder, during the first 12
months after issuance of a license, from driving during the
hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. or from transporting passengers
who are under 20 years of age, except as provided.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, there is some confusion
among driving schools, parents, and teens as to whether a
provisional permit is valid before a teen completes a least the
first professional behind-the-wheel driving lesson. AB 2464
will explicitly clarify this requirement in an effort to ensure
parents do not allow their teens to practice driving prior to
completing at least some professional training. This bill
further seeks to improve teen driving by putting into place a
AB 2464
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mechanism by which young adults must prove that they have
completed the required 50 hours of supervised driving practice
before they can obtain a provisional license.
The author introduced a bill similar to AB 2464 last year. That
bill, AB 1220 (Huffman) would have required a person 16 to 24
years of age to submit to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
upon application for a driver's license a driving log certifying
that they have completed 50 hours of supervised driving
practice. According to Assembly Appropriations Committee, AB
1220 would have resulted in costs to DMV of about $500,000
annually in additional staff time to review and verify driving
logs. Consequently, the bill died on the Appropriations
Committee suspense file.
AB 2464 seeks to address a well-documented problem-that is, the
disproportionate number of vehicle accidents that involve novice
drivers. Nationwide, youths 15 to 20 years old represented 9%
of the U.S. population in 2007 and 6% of the licensed drivers;
however, 19% of the fatalities in the United States in 2007 were
related to young-driver crashes and teenagers in California have
the highest average annual collision and traffic offense rate in
the country.
According to a University of Berkley Traffic Safety Center
study, a key to developing safe teen drivers is parental
involvement. The study showed that teens with low parental
monitoring were three times more likely to engage in high-risk
driving behavior. Tightening requirements for showing
completion of required driving practice could result in
increased parental involvement and, thus, safer teen drivers.
Related legislation: AB 1952 (Niello) of 2010, requires teen
drivers with an instruction permit to take a motorcycle safety
course prior to riding a motorcycle. That bill passed out of
the Assembly Transportation Committee on a vote of 13-0, and is
currently awaiting hearing in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
Previous legislation: AB 1220 (Huffman) of 2009 was similar to
this bill. It died in Assembly Appropriations.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 2464
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American Nurses Association of California
Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Chapter of the American College of Emergency
Physicians
California Fire Chiefs Association
California Fraternal Order of Police
California Nurses Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
Driving School Association of California, Inc.
Fire Districts Association of California
Long Beach Police Officers Association
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Peace Officers Research Association of California
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
Santa Ana Police Officers Association
The Driving School Association of the Americas
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093