Sanghvi, a senior at Magruder High School, pointed out that he has sometimes driven to board meetings with teen passengers that aren't his family members. He said he found it interesting that he could serve on a board of adults—having equal vote on all issues—but, if the bill passed, he would face steep restrictions on how he chose to drive to the meetings.

He argues that it is more important to make changes that will "solve the issue, not merely hamper student rights." Says Sanghvi, "Merely making small changes will not solve the problem—we need to ensure teens are prepared in the right fashion."

Jason Pate, the Executive Board Member for the Maryland Association of Student Councils (and a student at Magruder High School) also has concerns. "Without parent involvement in their student's driving, and without improving the rarely-evaluated driving 'schools' in this state, the driving restrictions on their own will simply not get the job done," he says. "I certainly do not see the bills being put in place by the Maryland General Assembly drastically reducing accidents in the immediate future."

Others have argued that restrictions on teen driving unfairly penalize rural students. In the case of the passenger law that passed the Maryland Senate, a handful of lawmakers argued that the bill could hurt people who cannot afford a car of their own and those who must rely on carpooling.

Widespread Adult Support

But efforts to impose some new restrictions on new drivers have gained momentum with the surge in fatalities and with new information from the frontiers of brain science.

Currently, Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) and many prominent state lawmakers from both parties support several restrictions.

The governor also wants to increase penalties for drunk driving by teens and to extend the duration of the state's learner's permit from four months to six.

Before today's teen drivers were even born, Maryland lawmakers passed a teen driver restriction that new research indicates has saved many lives. In 1979, state lawmakers approved the first graduated driver's license program in the U.S., according to the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Graduated licensing programs limit a teen's driving until he or she gets more experience. Most other states adopted graduated licensing much later, in the 1990s.

Officials say that decrease is due in part to the drop in the number of 16-year-olds licensed to drive as states passed more restrictive laws.

Parking Lot Debates

At a January Teen Driver Safety Committee meeting in Columbia, Maryland, sponsored by the Howard County school system, a group of principals, parents, students and members of the police department got together to discuss the role of schools in making driving safer for teens.

Several administrators suggested a role for high schools in the region in encouraging safe driving. Some were in favor of tying the ability of a student to get a school parking lot pass to maintenance of a clean driving record. The idea is that students want to be able to drive to school, so they will have an incentive to follow the law.

"I'm glad students are here because this would directly affect them," said David Bruzga, a director of secondary school instruction at River Hill High School, in reference to the small group of teens in attendance.

One female student brought up an issue with the plan: What if a student who needs to get to school has had a minor violation on his or her driving record? Should they be forever punished? Or should they be encouraged to learn from their mistake, and ultimately be able to receive a permit?

Another student suggested that administrators aim at students' pocketbooks, rather than their driving rights. "I think it should it should be more costly [in terms of money], if you don't have a clean record," suggested the student. "Some students also need to park in order to play sports."

Adults leading the meeting indicated that these kinds of questions need to be considered, and said they planned on discussing them more in the future.

The Worst Path

Connie Lewis, who was also in attendance at the "Teen Driver Safety Committee" meeting, can make arguments against teen driver restrictions sound hollow.

On April 14, 1996, a policeman appeared at Lewis' door. He informed her that her son had died in a car accident.

What would she say to those who oppose stricter teen driving regulations? "I would have them walk in my shoes—I know what parents who have lost a child this school year are going through."

As the principal of Atholton High School in Columbia, Lewis today has a platform to make teen driver safety a huge issue for her students and their parents.

"I would much rather have to tell a parent that their student can't park in a school parking lot," she says, "[than] to inform them that their child is dead."

In reference to the parking permit plan, Lewis said it would be important to determine how many students already have points on their license to get a sense of how big a problem educators would be dealing with.

Near the conclusion of the meeting, she volunteered her own Atholton students to serve as a test case for the plan. Atholton student Brandon Boy was already convinced that the permit plan held merit: "I think it"s a good idea," he said. "People will become more aware of what they're doing in order to keep their permit."

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Rob Capriccioso is a former staff writer for Connect for Kids.