Red Decal Has N.J. Teens Seeing Red

[charlesg]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703340904575284730319688608.html

JUNE 4, 2010
Red Decal Has N.J. Teens Seeing Red
By ANDREW GROSSMAN

A New Jersey law requiring young drivers to stick a red decal on their license plates expectedly upset teenagers. But the ire has crossed generations. Parents, too, are protesting the overhaul of the state's rules for young drivers. Debbie Minnick, a mother in Hamilton Township, recently took her 16-year-old to the Motor Vehicle Commission for a learner's permit. The clerk told her she needed to buy red decals for her daughter. Ms. Minnick's response: "When hell freezes over, I'll buy those stickers," she said. One month after the new law went into effect, many New Jersey parents are refusing to abide. As of May 1, small red decals must adorn the license plates of cars driven by new drivers under 21.

New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission says 250,000 drivers are subject to the law. As of last week, it had sold just over 105,000 sets of the decals. The red badge of inexperience is part of Kyleigh's Law, which was passed nearly unanimously by the state legislature and signed by then-Gov. Jon Corzine last year. The law is named for a Morris County teenager killed three years ago when the car she was riding in crashed. A new driver was at the wheel.

Gregory Gottlieb, a junior at Atlantic City High School, isn't putting the decals on his car. His parents are supporting his decision, he said. "It's scary, especially for parents who disagree with it," Mr. Gottlieb said. He co-founded a Facebook group opposing that law that now has more than 30,000 members. "If any group of drivers should be identifiable, it should be convicted sex offenders, not their prey," Mr. Gottlieb wrote last year in an op-ed in his local paper, the Press of Atlantic City...

The decal — the first of its kind in the nation—is meant to give police a way to enforce restrictions on young drivers. Backers argue that if police can't tell who is or isn't subject to special rules like limits on the number of passengers in the car, they can't enforce those limits. Teens caught without the decals face a $100 fine. Ms. Minnick said she's willing to pay the $100 fine if her daughter, Amber, is caught. Amber said many students at Hamilton West High School, where she's a sophomore, ignored the messages from police officers when the law went into effect reminding them to get decals. "Why don't we just put a bull's-eye on our car?" the younger Ms. Minnick said. "I'm not putting that on my car. I don't feel safe."...

[Captain Hilts]

1. This would be fair if it were for all new drivers. New drivers are statistically more prone to

accidents. That many are teenagers is not what the causal factor is. It's being new to driving.

[WeDidIt]

3. What parents ar worried about is it tells every scumbag out there a teenager is driving that car

I agree with the parents. That's just an invitation for scumbags to target teens.

[rfranklin]

6. They can look in the window of the car...

They can follow them from the high school parking lot. That excuse is totally bogus.

[WeDidIt]

11. No, your argument is coimpletely bogus

The red decal can be seen from blocks away. No way could you tell a teenager is driving a car from three blocks away, unless there's a red decal on the license plate.

So now a scumbag doesn't have to scope out local high schools or risk being considered suspicious looking at everybody driving cars near them.

[rocktivity]

16. Not to mention cops who are in danger of not meeting their ticket quotas. n/t

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. How would a decal have stopped the driver of Kyleigh D'Alessio's car from driving into a tree?

:shrug:

[rfranklin]

4. The opposition is bogus...

All a predator has to do is look in the window of the car and it is obvious that a teenager is driving the car. The statistics show that it is the teens who are a much greater danger to themselves and everyone else on the road.


http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Teen_Drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html

Young people ages 15-24 represent only 14% of the U.S. population. However, they account for 30% ($19 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males and 28% ($7 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females.

[WeDidIt]

7. Bullshit, the opposition is spot on

Scumbags have to get close enough to see a teenager is at the wheel today. The red decal can be seen two to three blocks away.

[rfranklin]

12. And you can't come up with any statistics that support this fear...

It is much more likely that teens will be injured or killed in a car crash than be attacked by a sexual predator who spotted a red sticker.

[WeDidIt]

13. THAT'S BECAUSE THIS BULLSHIT HAS NEVER BEEN PULLED BY A GOVERNMENT BEFORE!

Fuck putting targets on kids for scumbags.

I stand with the parents on this one.

[MindPilot]

10. And the decal is going to fix that exactly how?

Will it use Matrix-style FM* to impart the knowledge and experience they need to not have more crashes?

* Fucking Magic

[rfranklin]

17. Read the article...

It's a way for police to enforce the restrictions that apply to teen drivers.

When I learned to drive, I had to display a big "L" front and back on my vehicle and it sure did make me more careful. I did not want to lose my chance to become fully licenced. It works. It's not magic, but it works.

[Dappleganger]

5. This would really anger me too.

I'd tell them to go to hell and find me a lawyer, stat.

[MindPilot]

8. Why do we insist on treating young drivers like virtual criminals?

I guess it's necessary to get them used to idea that cops will be micromanaging lives--especially when they are committing the heinous act of travelling from one place to another in a motor vehicle.

[Upton]

9. Screw them..

teens are the most dangerous of drivers, particularly teenage males, though the females are no picnic.

[MindPilot]

14. I wish I could put an eye-roll in the subject line....

:eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes:

[rocktivity]

15. Why not put the sitcker on the license?

Most cars are family cars--a teen won't always be driving! And aren't new drivers OVER the age of 21 just as vulnerable?

And I'm also concerned that cops in danger of not making their ticket quotas will target these drivers unfairly.

:crazy:
rocktivity

[Fumesucker]

19. Most licenses have the birth date on them..

Since they are almost universally used to prove age..

[Fumesucker]

18. Here is what they put on new driver's cars in the UK..

And it doesn't matter how old you are.

[rocktivity]

22. But that's fair because it applies to ALL new drivers.

But can it be removed temporarily if you're, say, the parent of a teen new driver?

:headbang:
rocktivity

[donco6]

20. So, imagine trying to implement a rule at school today.

Any rule. This is pretty much the response you get.

[-..__...]

21. It's a stupid feel good law, but...

driving isn't a right and the DMV/state legislature can set conditions on drivers.

(I also despise it when laws are named for victims).

The reasoning doesn't make much sense since often times minors/teens will be using the family car to get around.

It's going to backfire when say a cop spots a vehicle sporting a red sticker late at night, with too many passengers, etc, pulls the car over and the driver is 18-21 or older.

Like most modern activists, New Jersey teens have taken to Facebook to organize their opposition.

Yet, they'll post their names and picture on Facebook where any stalker can leisurely sit at their computer and pick their targets
that way. :eyes:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=91242535438&v=app_2373072738&ref=search