FLORENCE- Taylor's Law will tie teen's behavior at school to their driving privileges.
The new law was recently passed during the legislative session and signed into law by Governor Riley. The law is named after David Taylor who was killed in November 2002 when a teenaged drunk driver ran a stop sign.
It's been 7 years since that tragic death. But for the past 5 years family members and lawmakers have pushed hard to get Taylor's law on the books. Finally after much hard work it was passed unanimously. Tuesday Senator Bobby Denton, Representative Mike Curtis and David Taylor's friends and family held a news conference to talk about the mechanics of that law.
"To see something so good come of something so bad is a relief and ecstatic," said David's younger brother Kevin Taylor. He says once the program is implemented in the fall he will travel across the state to schools and tell the story of why this law was enacted. "Potentially I think this law will catch on nationwide. We want to be a leader to change the way teens think and hope they will make better decisions in school and reward those that do make good decisions with the privilege to drive."
Taylor's Law is expected to be implemented in all schools across the state of Alabama in the fall of 2010.
Taylor's Law
*One day in -school suspension.........1 point
*One day out-of-school suspension......2 points
*Alternative ed. Placement................6 points
*Expulsion from school....................20 points
*Points begin to accumulate the school year the student turns 13 (typically 7th grade)
*Each accumulated point makes the student wait one week to apply for a permit or driver's license
*As the law currently reads, no teen will have to wait more than one year to obtain a permit or license
*If a student accumulates points in a school year, but does not accumulate points in the following school year...the number of accumulated points will be reduced by half.
* If a student does not accumulate any points for two consecutive years, all of the points will be removed.
The state-wide data collection system, known at STI will contain the program for calculating accumulated points.
Alabama is the first state in the nation to implement a law like this.
Reporter: Haley Baker
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