Enlarge By Erik S. Lesser for USA TODAY High school freshman Abby McCormick uses a simulator in a driver education class last fall in Cumming, Ga. A three-year Connecticut study has set out to prove that simulators reduce crashes among teenagers by 25%. TEENS AND CRASHES TEENS AND CRASHES Deaths in motor vehicle crashes involving teen drivers, 2003-2008: Ala. 1,342 Alaska 99 Ariz. 1,194 Ark. 776 Calif. 4,486 Colo. 729 Conn. 321 Del. 174 D.C. 43* Fla. 3,659 Ga. 1,825 Hawaii 150 Idaho 300 Ill. 1,563 Ind. 1,141 Iowa 536 Kan. 533 Ky. 991 La. 1,076 Maine 223 Md. 682 Mass. 508 Mich. 1,358 Minn. 695 Miss. 1,002 Mo. 1,428 Mont. 241 Neb. 390 Nev. 399 N.H. 161 N.J. 692 N.M. 468 N.Y. 1,412 N.C. 1,818 N.D. 134 Ohio 1,542 Okla. 896 Ore. 484 Pa. 1,780 R.I. 108 S.C. 1,014 S.D. 194 Tenn. 1,394 Texas 4,219 Utah 353 Vt. 99 Va. 1,067 Wash. 682 W.Va. 379 Wis. 940 Wyo. 152 * through 2007 Sources: Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration National standards sought for teen drivers As prom season begins, the issue of phased-in driving privileges for teens is heating up. Three Democratic senators are pushing legislation to create a national graduated driver licensing (GDL) law. They say it would replace a patchwork of state laws with a single national standard that encompasses proven safety policies for novice drivers. New Jersey just strengthened its GDL law, adding a first-in-the-nation provision requiring teens with a driver's permit or probationary license to display a special decal on their license plates. Illinois is considering reducing the amount of time that teenagers can drive on weekend nights. Fresh scrutiny surrounds Minnesota's GDL law after 18 people, many of them teens, were killed in one week in highway crashes. 'NO PHONE ZONE': Rallies join texting fight PHONES AND DRIVING: Teens say they do it Alabama and Pennsylvania are considering tightening their GDL restrictions, says Justin McNaull, auto club AAA's director of state relations. Every state except North Dakota has a licensing program for teens that includes three phrases. The strongest programs include restrictions on nighttime driving, limits on the number of teen passengers and a minimum age of 16 for getting a learner's permit. Forty-two states allow learner's permits before age 16. Programs reduce deaths There is little debate about the effectiveness of good GDL programs on highway safety. States that impose major restrictions have seen crash reductions of 10%-30%, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In Massachusetts, fatal crashes involving drivers younger than 18 dropped 75% in the three years after the state implemented tougher restrictions for young drivers; injury crashes involving these drivers fell 38%. What is sparking controversy is a key component of the proposed federal legislation: It raises the age at which young drivers can get a learner's permit from 14 or 15 in most states to 16; it also sets 18 as the minimum age at which young drivers can get an unrestricted license. "It's a very important time of year," says co-sponsor Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. "Kids are out for proms and graduation parties. A lot of kids start driving in the summer. The basic point is to put more standards in place for those first few years when they're learning to drive." The legislation, also sponsored by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has many detractors. "It's not a GDL act at all. It's a raise-the-driving age act," says Rob Foss, director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "It's shifting the whole licensing process to an older age for a number of states." "I think doing this would be a horrible idea," says Alex Koroknay-Palicz, executive director of the 10,000-member National Youth Rights Association, which supports lowering the voting and drinking ages. "Part of the beauty of our federal system is allowing states to be laboratories and having different policies and approaches to difficult problems." He emphasizes the urban-rural divide over the minimum age for licensing: "Driving in New Jersey is a completely different thing than driving in Nebraska or Idaho," he says. "You have states where people learn to drive on the farm at 12 or 13. You can't have the same rules in those states as in states like Connecticut or New Jersey." Restrictions proposed The Senate legislation, the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection (STAND UP) act for new drivers under 21, would: •Establish a three-stage process with a learner's permit and intermediate stage before an unrestricted driver's license. •Prohibit unsupervised nighttime driving during the first two stages. •Prohibit non-emergency use of cellphones and other communications devices during the first two phases. States failing to comply with STAND UP's minimum requirements after three years would lose some federal highway construction money. The Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state safety offices, "hasn't taken a formal position on STAND UP but opposes new highway safety sanctions and has noted that 49 states would potentially lose highway funds" if the act passes without changes, spokesman Jonathan Adkins says. The federal legislation is "very close to what we consider a model GDL," says McNaull of AAA. The auto club is not actively supporting the measure because of the possible sanctions against states. Foss says the legislation is different from earlier federal mandates that drastically improved seat-belt use and reduced drunken driving. "In those cases, they were able to point to states and say look, they did it in this state and it produced this result," Foss says. "In this case, what the STAND UP act would require has never been tried in any state." Raising the learner's permit age to 16 would reduce the fatal crash rate of 15- to 17-year-olds by about 13%, says Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The insurance institute's surveys in Minnesota, North Carolina and Rhode Island found up to 50% of parents support raising the minimum licensing age, McCartt says. "I think even more parents might support an older licensing age if they really understood the safety benefits," she says. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more