NJ Supreme Court Upholds Decals for Under 18s Law

[Greenday]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...an_invasi.html

Kyleigh's Law, the law stating that everyone who drives and is under 18 must have a red decal on their license plates, has been upheld by the NJ Supreme Court. They declared that it does not discriminate against kids in any way.

Really? Then how come everyone else doesn't have a decal identifying how old they are? Why is it that only those under 18 are given trouble driving in this state? How come old people are allowed to drive after midnight?

Also, opponents of this ridiculous law are worried about the other possibly consequences of this law. Let's say some girl works at the mall until 10pm. Some rapist could just walk through the parking lot, look for cars with red decals, and just wait behind the car until the poor kid walks out to their car.

This law is supposed to help make the roads safe. How does this dumb decal make the roads any safer? It won't change how a kid drives, it won't change how other people drive on the road. It's age discrimination pure and simple.

I honestly have never seen anyone put the decal on their car. I don't know any parents who would have their kid do it. The first time I heard of anyone doing it was when I was listening to NJ101.5 on the radio and some 17 year old called in saying she put the decals on her car...because the cops sit at the entrances to her school and ticket every kid who doesn't have one.

What a load of crap.

[Shangri-laschild]

So what happens if you borrow a car that you don't normally use? They have to put a decal up for the one time?

[Greenday]

So what happens if you borrow a car that you don't normally use? They have to put a decal up for the one time?

Yes. Let's say I was 17 and only drove my mom's car. We'd legally be forced to put the decals on her car. So then God forbid she's ever driving after midnight, she'd probably get pulled over because 17 year olds aren't allowed to drive after midnight.

[crashhelmet]

The article you linked says the age is 21 and it's only drivers with a special learner's permit, an examination permit, or a probationary license, not a regular license.

Are people allowed to drive by themselves when they have a learner's permit? I realize laws may have changed with the times, but in Florida (when I was that age) you had to have a licensed adult in the car with you if you drove with a permit.

[Greenday]

The article you linked says the age is 21 and it's only drivers with a special learner's permit, an examination permit, or a probationary license, not a regular license.

Are people allowed to drive by themselves when they have a learner's permit? I realize laws may have changed with the times, but in Florida (when I was that age) you had to have a licensed adult in the car with you if you drove with a permit.

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Licenses/gdl_definitions.htm - Here are the restrictions.

For a permit, you must have someone in your car that has had a license (not a restricted license) for more than 3 years.

After that permit, you get a restricted license which means you can't drive late at night, no more than one passenger unless you have an adult with you.

The decals are only required though if you are under 21. This is clearly discrimination. Why do young people have to identify themselves? Why don't old people have to? Why don't people who have gotten DUIs have to? Why don't people with a lot of tickets have to? How does this law make ANYTHING safer on the road?

[crashhelmet]

I don't get it either. It doesn't serve any purpose other than allowing police to target underage drivers, and harass those who let underage drivers operate their vehicles

[Duelist925]

Joy. More security theater bullshit, and a way for the cops to snag some easy tickets. -_-

Bloody hell, you're right Greenday. This is complete bs. If they required DUI's or otherwise unsafe drivers to do this too, it might be a bit more palatable, but...just teens? Wow.

[Greenday]

NJ has the worst driving laws. This is almost as bad as the Under 8 or 80 law (A law that stated if you were under 8 years old OR under 80 lbs., you had to be in a car seat.)

[crashhelmet]

NJ has the worst driving laws. This is almost as bad as the Under 8 or 80 law (A law that stated if you were under 8 years old OR under 80 lbs., you had to be in a car seat.)

Wow.. I thought the 6 or 60 law here was absurd

[Greenday]

When I got my restricted license at 17 (the fact that we have to wait until 17 unlike most of the country sucks enough as it is), I couldn't have more than one non-adult in the car, couldn't drive between 12am-5am (no exceptions unlike the rules for current kids under 18), couldn't drive out of the state of New Jersey.

[crashhelmet]

If I remember right, as it was over 20 years ago, I was able to get my "Restricted License" in Florida when I was 15. During the daylight hours, I had to have a at least 18 years old with a valid license in the car with me. At night, that age requirement bumped up to 25. Once I got my license at 16, those restrictions went away.

[Sarah Valentine]

Jesus christ. Fine, I removed my opinion. I wasn't trying to say there are 10 million perverts and rapists everywhere, I'm not that stupid.

[bex1218]

If I remember right, as it was over 20 years ago, I was able to get my "Restricted License" in Florida when I was 15. During the daylight hours, I had to have a at least 18 years old with a valid license in the car with me. At night, that age requirement bumped up to 25. Once I got my license at 16, those restrictions went away.

Now its at 15 you get the permit and only able to have someone at least 21 with you in the passanger. When 16 no 11 pm-6 am driving; 17 no 1 am to 5 am driving. All unless you have some 21 or over or driving to or from work.

And decals are a little stupid. At least the school's parking permits you were able to take off.

[Gravekeeper]

When I first heard of it my first thought wasn't "age discrimination", it was: "great, now those perverts know exactly which cars to go after." To me putting those stickers on the cars that minors drive, is putting up a bullseye for perverts.

Oh for fark sakes, will both of you get off of this ridiculous "OMFG THINK OF THE CHILDREN" attempt? -.-

Do you seriously think the world is full of would be rapists that were just sitting around going "Damn, I REALLY want to rape someone but they have to be exactly 17-21, otherwise, like, ew, omigawd. If only I had someway to verify everyone's age by staking out a parking lot for days!".

Newsflash: Completely random violent sexual assaults by total strangers are not the norm and ones that are actually meticulously planned are even rarer.

We have a similar system up here ( You get an "N" at first for Novice, then an "L" decal for Learners. ) and it didn't kick open the gates and release the rape hounds on our unsuspecting young. =p

I don't get it either. It doesn't serve any purpose other than allowing police to target underage drivers, and harass those who let underage drivers operate their vehicles

Up here its to identify an inexperienced driver so you can be more cautious of them and courteous towards them.

[crashhelmet]

Oh for fark sakes, will both of you get off of this ridiculous "OMFG THINK OF THE CHILDREN" attempt? -.-

Do you seriously think the world is full of would be rapists that were just sitting around going "Damn, I REALLY want to rape someone but they have to be exactly 17-21, otherwise, like, ew, omigawd. If only I had someway to verify everyone's age by staking out a parking lot for days!".

Newsflash: Completely random violent sexual assaults by total strangers are not the norm and ones that are actually meticulously planned are even rarer.

We have a similar system up here ( You get an "N" at first for Novice, then an "L" decal for Learners. ) and it didn't kick open the gates and release the rape hounds on our unsuspecting young. =p




Up here its to identify an inexperienced driver so you can be more cautious of them and courteous towards them.

The state of Florida used to have the word "LEASE" printed on the license plates of their rental cars. And then tourists started getting carjacked, followed and robbed, and/or murdered. So they removed the word LEASE, changed it to the county name, like other cars have, but set the plates to start with the letters X, Y, or Z. Once criminals figured out the pattern for the plates, the crimes started up again. The number of crimes reported were in the thousands throughout the 90s. The plates are now "normal" from what i understand. No identifying patterns for them at all.

Now I'm not saying these kids are going to get raped or kidnapped, but they could be marked as easier targets for carjackers.

Then there's also the concern of over-aggressive cops harassing older drivers because they're driving one of these cars with a decal after the "curfew"