In the state of New Jersey, driving bans have always been considered somewhat ridiculous. After one year with a driver`s license, the driver receives his provisional driver`s license at the age of seventeen. This license still has its fair share of restrictions. If you are driving under a temporary arrangement, you must deviate from the road between noon and five in the morning and can only have one passenger in the car. These restrictions may seem trivial and easy to ignore, but starting in 2009, a new law was enacted requiring all new drivers to put a red sticker on the front and back license plates of their cars until they had driven on their makeshift vehicle for a full year. The law is called Kyleigh`s law, or better known as the „red sticker“ law. In Michael Tracey`s article „Dead Kids Make Bad Laws,“ he writes about the law as ineffective, while in Frederick L. Gruel`s „Give Kyleigh`s Law Enough Time to Show its Merits,“ he explains the importance of giving the law a chance. The sticker was recommended by the state Adolescent Conduct Commission, which drafted various parts of the GDL program. The programme is considered a model within the security community and has been adopted by other States. The pros and cons are discussed generously. Mahwah and Midland Park councils passed resolutions to repeal the legislation. Mahwah Council Chairman John DaPuzzo says the law „eliminates young drivers“; Midland Park City Councillor Nicholas Papapietro says this „could have unintended consequences“ (police harassment and predators targeting teens while searching for stickers were mentioned).
If you or a loved one need the skills of our Hackensack NJ accident attorney after your car accident in New Jersey, please contact our firm anytime for a free consultation. „I`m always convinced it`s a bad idea, and it`s from someone who thought it was a good idea and supported it,“ said Sen. Sean Kean, R-Monmouth. „It`s a situation where I have to weigh the pros and cons and the disadvantages outweigh the pros. The disadvantages come from parents who are worried about it. Parents in the lawsuit claimed the stickers were a direct hit to predators, invaded privacy by disclosing the age group of drivers, and violated the protection against inappropriate search and seizure contained in the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In February, the law survived a Morris County court challenge filed by two parents. A Monmouth County lawmaker who signed one of several bills to repeal the sticker provision of the Kyleigh Act said he still supports lifting the requirement for non-compliance by young drivers and no support from parents or police. Parents began to resist the new law because the red stickers would betray a form of identity for their children.
When it was detected that a car was being driven by a teenage driver, the predators were able to distinguish which cars to target. Since the beginning of the bill under discussion, parents have called representatives of the New Jersey legislature to complain that the stickers would put their children at risk. Almost immediately after the law was passed, new drivers were found ignoring the new law, buying the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) stickers, and removing them shortly after passing the driving test. Michael Tracey explains that the stickers must be removed because they violate the Driver Privacy Protection Act, which states that the DMV does not have the right to disclose personal information about drivers. In one important case, a young girl who had the stickers on her license plates was followed by the Garden State Parkway with speculation as to whether the stickers were the reason she was targeted. Tracey points out that the responsibility is unfairly placed on parents to enforce this new law, which a large group immediately disapproved. Teens feel targeted and parents feel uncomfortable with the well-being of their vulnerable children. The April 6 report revealed that only one incident was reported to police in January 2011, in which a 17-year-old woman whose vehicle was wearing a red sticker was stopped by a man in a dark car with flashing lights posing as a police officer.
It is clear to understand Tracey`s position in the first sentence of her article. Young drivers are not prosecuted or placed on probation for reckless or drunk driving, they are subject to restrictions simply because they are under 21 years of age. Drivers have always had to complete the Garden State`s graduate driver`s license program. It appears that these restrictions are enough to make drivers under 21 stand out as such, but state lawmakers have decided to take further action. In 2009, Kyleigh`s law passed hands down. The law commemorated a sixteen-year-old who died in a car accident as a direct result of a friend`s distraction while driving. It is because of this incident, as well as others, that New Jersey teens are tagged to alert police officers of their age when driving on the road with red stickers. Murphy said the officer asked her if she was using a cell phone or iPod because he saw a light coming out of his car. When she told him it wasn`t her — she said her passenger was using the iPod — she got a $54 visually impaired bill for an air freshener and a guardian angel hanging from her rearview mirror,“ St. Martin reported. Although red stickers are designed to keep teen drivers as well as other drivers safe on the road, they end up doing more harm than good by placing a target on the backs of teen drivers.
Frédéric L. Gruel believes that Kyleigh`s law has unfortunately become a law that must be repealed without having an easy chance. In his article, „Give Kyleigh`s Law Ample Time to Show Its Benefits,“ he points out that the state`s Teen Drivers Review Commission was in favor of enacting the law after a year-long study that studied and examined teenage driving and its safety risks. The study took into account the views of several law enforcement officials, parents and state legal officials. Gruel explains that Kyleigh`s law was immediately attacked, without having time to show its positive results. New Jersey authorities have decided to require drivers under the age of 21 to put red stickers on their front and rear license plates. This bill comes after a teenage driver named Kyleigh was killed by another teenage driver while driving a motor vehicle. The law states that the red sticker must be placed in the upper left corner of the license plate while the teen driver is driving. The red sticker can be removed if an elderly person is driving and can also be transferred if the teen driver has the opportunity to drive another car.
