Teenagers would be required to complete at least 50 hours of supervised driving practice and wait longer before getting an Indiana driver’s license under a proposed bill unveiled by lawmakers Monday.

The bill, aimed at reducing the number of crashes caused by young people, also would ban teen drivers from using cell phones and handsfree devices while driving. Probationary drivers would have to display a placard issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in the rear window of their vehicle.

Supporters said the restrictions, including a ban on late-night driving, would save teen lives — 153 of which were lost in crashes caused by young drivers last year. But they could save others as well, said a woman whose 6-year-old daughter died when a 16-year-old driver hit their car head-on.

“It affects all people on the roads, whether it be a person on a bike, a pedestrian or other people in other vehicles,” said Angie Pinna of Indianapolis. Her daughter Jessica was killed in November 2006 in a crash near their home on the city’s south side. She said 321 people statewide died in crashes caused by young drivers that year.


The graduated driver’s license proposal would raise the minimum age at which a teen can receive a learner’s permit from 15 to 15 and six months with driver’s education, or 16 without it. Teens would be required to complete 50 hours of supervised driving with a licensed instructor or a licensed driver age 25 or older.


In most cases, supporters said, that person is likely to be a parent.


“I think it’s going to be good that we’re actually forcing parents to be in the car with their teen driver,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, the bill’s author. Lawmakers said it remained to be worked out if or how those practice hours would be documented.


The bill also would raise the minimum age to obtain a probationary license from 16 years and one month to 16 and six months. Restrictions would apply, including the cell phone and late-night driving ban. Probationary drivers wouldn’t be allowed passengers — other than a sibling or their own child — during the first 180 days.


Drivers wouldn’t be able to get an unrestricted driver’s license before age 18.


“This is not a way of getting tough on these teens,” said Sherry Deane of AAA, which supports the proposal. “We’re simply trying to keep them alive.”


More than 20 states have passed laws requiring teens to log at least 50 hours of driving before getting a license, according to AAA, and Deane said 25 states have prohibited cell phone use among teens. Indiana is among 10 states that have no driving practice requirements.


Similar proposals have failed to get traction the past two years in the General Assembly, said Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, who is co-sponsoring the bill in the Senate. But the new bill is the brainchild of a bipartisan study committee and he hopes its chances are improved.


That panel, the Interim Study Committee on Learner’s Permits and Graduated Driver’s Licenses, was appointed to study the issue during the last legislative session. Wyss was its chairman.