By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – It’s National Teen Driver Safety Week, and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is praising a nearly 10-year old law he helped to write for a dramatic decrease in teen deaths on state roadways.

Speaking with WJBC’s Sam Wood, White credited the state’s graduated driver licensing law for the decline. The so-called GDL program requires teens at the permit phase and again at the initial licensing stage to drive at least 50 hours with a parent or another adult who’s 21 or older. At least ten of those hours have to be at night.

Also, teens can’t be texting or using a hand-held cell phone while driving, and there are limits on the number who can be in the car with them.

“We got involved with the drivers education program. We talked with the parents, and then of course, law enforcement got involved as well,” said White.

“So as a result, there’s been a 51 percent reduction in the loss of lives at the hands of teen drivers because of our graduated drivers license program,” the Secretary of State said.

In 2007, there were 155 drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 who died in car crashes, compared to 76 last year.

White said the Illinois law has been a model for similar legislation in other states.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]