Opposition builds to raising minimum driving age
Experience counts more, some say
Foreshadowing a complex and emotional debate, opposition began building yesterday against a proposal to raise the minimum driving age in Massachusetts, even as another local community mourned a teen driver killed in a speed-related crash.
Lawmakers plan to unveil this week or next a sweeping overhaul of the state's teen driving laws, a proposal that would revamp driver's education curriculum and increase punishment for junior operator's license violations, among other changes.
But its centerpiece will be a proposal to raise the minimum age for obtaining a junior operator's license to 17 1/2 -- the highest in the country -- from the current 16 1/2.
Under the proposal, learner's permit drivers would have to be at least 16 1/2, up from 16 now.
Some lawmakers interviewed yesterday said the provision, which its backers say would prevent thousands of immature teens from getting behind the wheel, is off target.
''It has nothing to do with age. It's experience and education," said state Representative Bradford Hill, an Ipswich Republican who has worked on the teen driving issue for years. ''Never once has an expert told us age is an issue."
Even as lawmakers on Beacon Hill worked on the proposal behind closed doors yesterday, Hopkinton residents were reeling from the latest in a string of teen driving tragedies.
Andrea Goncalves, 17, and her 10-year-old brother, Joshua, were killed in a crash around 5 p.m. Sunday. Joshua was riding in the front passenger seat when their car ran over a fire hydrant and hit a tree.
Hopkinton Police Chief Thomas Irvin said a preliminary investigation indicated that Goncalves was speeding when she lost control of her 2001 Saab as she drove down Frankland Road, a narrow, rural street.
According to state Registry of Motor Vehicles records, Goncalves got her license in September and had not committed any driving infractions since then.
Irvin said Goncalves did not violate any state driving laws regulating teenagers.
No alcohol or drugs were involved in the crash, Irvin said.
''It appears that this is a single-car accident where there may have been too much speed for the type of road and the experience of the driver," he said.
The debate over the proposed teenage driving overhaul appears to be shaping up as a policy argument over whether age or driving experience matters more in roadway safety.
''I feel pretty strongly about" raising the driving age, said state Representative Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat and cochairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, which probably will vote on the proposal this week or early next week.
Senate President Robert E. Travaglini said his 15-year-old daughter, Taylor, lobbied him this weekend to reject the proposal to raise the driving age.
''She didn't win me over," Travaglini said. ''I'm very fond of her, I love her dearly. But I tried to convey to my own daughter the reasons and the evidence that suggests this change is clearly worth exploring fully and taking action on."
According to lawmakers, the proposal also will double the duration of learner's permits to one year, during which teen drivers would have to log 50 hours of supervised driving.
Some lawmakers said the provisions related to driver's education were more crucial than raising the minimum driving age in producing safer teen drivers.
''The focus on the bill ought to be on improving experience behind the wheel," said state Representative Karyn E. Polito, a Shrewsbury Republican, who said she was skeptical but would consider the age change.
Hill said raising the driving age could penalize some families in which teens need to drive to work.
''Not every parent is going to be able to take their kids to a job. Now you're going to take away their right to go to that job," he said.
Some driving educators interviewed opposed the proposal or were skeptical about it.
''Raising the age is the wrong thing. I see kids at 16 years old . . . most of them, they can drive fine," said David Leung, owner of D&D Auto School, which runs driver's education programs for high school students in Boston, Quincy, and Randolph.
He said irresponsible driving is caused more often by peers rather than age. ''It depends on who their friends are," Leung said.
In Hopkinton, neither Irvin nor Hopkinton School Superintendent John Phelan would comment on the proposal.
Goncalves was a junior at Hopkinton High School, and her brother was a fourth-grader at the Hopkins School. Both were described by Hopkinton school officials as excellent students with sunny personalities.
''We lost two wonderful students," Phelan sad. ''Both our faculty and our students are in pain."
Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com., and John R. Ellement at ellement@globe.com. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. 