The state Division of Motor Vehicles says it has published forms for driving logs that will be required, starting next year, for thousands of teens seeking their driver’s licenses.

Teens who get learner’s permits after Jan. 1 will be subject to a new law requiring them to drive with front-seat supervision by a parent or other qualified adult for at least 60 hours spread over several weeks, including 10 hours at night.

They’ll have to fill out the logs, signed by parents, to document the supervised driving when they apply for provisional licenses -- after 12 months with their learner's permits -- starting in 2013. ... [MORE]

The General Assembly this morning approved a 14-month delay in the effective date for signed driving logs -- documenting that parents were in the front seat to supervise 60 hours of driving -- that will be required before 16- or 17-year-olds can get their driver's licenses. [See 9/15/11 story.]

Parents and teens needed more time to comply -- and DMV needed more time, too.

This changes a law, enacted in June, that added several tough new provisions to North Carolina's graduated licensing program.

Parents or other supervising adult drivers must sign the logs to show that they supervised 60 hours of driving, spread out over at least six weeks. The original legislation said the logs would be added to the requirements for any provisional driver's license issued after Oct. 1.  Teens at least 16 years old, who have had limited learner's permits for at least a year, are eligible for provisional licenses.

The rewritten language, approved today, says the 60-hour logs will be required for any teen 15 or older who receives a limited learner's permit after Jan. 1.  That means it will apply to provisional licenses issued after Jan. 1, 2013. ... [MORE]

No telling how long it will take the state Division of Motor Vehicles to approve the format for a simple driving log -- soon to be required for all teen drivers under legislation adopted this year to strengthen the state's graduated licensing program.

But why wait? Make your own log now, and transfer the info later to the official form, when DMV finally publishes it. 

You can start using an informal version of teen driving logs distributed now by DMV as part of a driving safety program (see below).

As the Road Worrier reported today, the legislature might -- or might not -- take action in September to correct an error in the new law, which as written causes unintended problems for 110,000 teens who have their limited learner's permits now and hope soon to get their provisional licenses.

If we're lucky, the legislature will exempt kids who already have their learner's permits, so they won't have to produce these parent-signed logs. One parent, Pam Bobay, said by email that she isn't putting all her faith in the legislature to fix this ... [MORE]

Two Triangle senators say they'll try in September to correct a mistake in a law enacted in June that caused unintended problems for 110,000 young drivers aged 15 to 17 who now have limited learner's permits - and for their families (see today's Road Worrier column with reader comments).

After a year with a learner's permit, and after you turn 16, the old law qualifies you to trade up for a less restrictive provisional license. The new law adds a big new requirement: before you get the provisional license, your parents must sign logs documenting 60 hours of driving over at least six weeks -- some of it at night -- with Mom or Dad or another qualified adult in the front seat.

Sen. David Rouzer of Benson, who sponsored the law, said he thought the new requirement would only affect teens who receive the learner's permit after Oct. 1, when the changes take effect.  That would give them a year to produce the new logs.

But Bob Goudreau of Cary got Rouzer to acknowledge what the Road Worrier reported in June ... [MORE]

Spurred by the determination to do something, anything, that might stem the grim tide of deadly teen crashes, the General Assembly is making a few changes in North Carolina's graduated drivers license system.

I'll be writing more about this, and I'd like to hear from teen drivers. Tell me what you like and don't like about graduated licensing, and how it is working out or has worked out for you.  Please email me or call 919-829-4527.  Don't forget to leave your full name -- we don't quote anonymous folks -- and your contact information, so I can call you Monday.

North Carolina law allows you at age 18 to get your license just by passing the test. ... [MORE]

Young North Carolinians would have to wait an extra year – until they turn 19 -- to get an unrestricted adult driver’s license under legislation amended today by a House judiciary subcommittee.

The higher driving age was narrowly endorsed on a 5-4 vote, along with other measures to toughen the state’s graduated licensing program for young drivers aged 15 to 18. (See today's story with reader comments.)

Supporters said the higher driving age will reduce the number of teens who skip the graduated licensing program by waiting to get their licenses when they turn 18.  Fewer will be willing, the said, to wait until they’re 19.

Critics said 18-year-olds deserve adult privileges.

“Of course people who are 18 are adults. I was in the Marine Corps when I was 17,” said Republican Rep. Paul Stam of Apex, the subcommittee co-chairman. “Raising from 18 to 19, I would say I’ve got problems with that.” ... [MORE]