New teen driving laws can give parents a little peace

You can't see me, but I'm knocking on wood the whole time I'm writing this.

If you have a teenage, or even 20-something, driver, you probably spend a lot of time knocking on wood --or on their heads -- too.

In my sometimes-feels-like-vast and oftentimes-feels-like-very-little parenting experience, few subjects worry parents like driving.

Once upon a time, I think I thought that would pass. Bad news. It doesn't. (So, I'm just now realizing, does that mean I have to expand that first paragraph into "or thirtysomething?" More experienced parents, please reply, but I think I know the answer.)

I've had at least one kid driving now for nearly six years and still worry when he's on the road -- and he's on the road farther and farther away all the time. I have another driving closer to home, and a third who will be affected by all these new laws for new drivers.

That last bit of news is the best of the three.

Though, knock on wood, we've been very lucky in the driving department, I personally can't think of a restriction that the state would add that would bother me.

If the rules said new drivers could only drive from home to school (one that always made sense in my mind) for the first six months, that would be fine with me.

That's not what the new law says, but it says some other things that are music to worried parents' ears.

My own experience of being a parent-with-kid-driving has run the gamut. When my eldest started driving, Illinois had very few rules for new drivers -- mostly it was just the "no driving after 11 p.m. on weekdays, midnight on weekends" for 16-year-olds.

What rules he had were ours, things we researched through insurance Web sites and had to enforce ourselves.

He, of course, thought the rules were dumb. His friends didn't understand them because many of them didn't have the same rules. He thought we were being so eye-rolling extreme -- though, looking back, we weren't even as strict as the current state rules for 16- and 17-year-olds.

Those laws went into effect just before my next child started driving. The rule about having just one other person in the car with you for the first six months (starting next week, that will be a year) was the biggest and most welcome change.

That way, our driver didn't have to explain the rule to every kid who wanted a ride. He was able to tell the kid they could be pulled over by police for doing this -- unlike when it was just our rule.

As of next week, even better, a young driver can remind insistent friends that they ALL could be ticketed for piling into the car "just this once."

The other advantage this law has is that it bands parents together. Though few other parents would have noticed four kids in my son's car in 2002 when he first got his license, when my younger son started driving in 2005, we all knew none of the 16-year-olds should have more than one passenger and we could -- and did -- keep an eye out for each other's kids.

It's probably not a good time to say "it takes a village," but on this topic it really does. Be a snitch, tell a parent if you see their kid driving with too many kids in the car. Most parents will appreciate it. If they don't, then you'll learn something, too.

The newest rules go into effect Jan. 1. For a complete list, check out this very informative Web site that answers the questions I had: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/drivers/programs/gdlnew.html.

Highlights include the driving curfews -- 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends for 16- and 17-year-olds -- as well as the one-passenger rule extended for a year instead of six months for new drivers.

Unlike some pie-in-the-sky laws, the graduated licensing law in Illinois is one to thank our legislators for. It's expert-driven and tested by other states. These laws have proven to make the roads safer for all drivers and make a lot of common sense, as well. These types of laws remind me what good government can do.

So this year, when you count your holiday blessings, count this new law. And for good measure, knock on wood.

• Joni Hirsch Blackman is a Naperville mom who lives on a cul-de-sac. Contact her at jonihb@aol.com.