Community Corner

Assemblywoman Fighting New Kyleigh's Law Changes

District 21's Nancy Munoz voices her opposition to the decal requirement.

If you're a teen driver or soon to be one, you've probably already heard all about the Kyleigh's Law changes to the Graduated Driver's License that took effect on Saturday.

The key changes to the GDL are a new requirement that drivers holding provisional licenses up until age 21 must have red, reflective decals on the front and rear license plates of their vehicle to help police identify these drivers, and a new tighter restriction on the hours teens can be driving. Teens cannot drive between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The law used to allow driving until midnight.

But not everyone is on board with the changes.

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Several state legislators, including District 21 Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz, are signing onto a new bill that would repeal just the decal portion of the law. District 21 includes Madison.

Munoz's youngest child, 16-year-old Max, turns 17 on June 1 and if he passes his driver's test will get a graduated driver's license and be required to sport his own red decals.

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"This is a very bad policy," Munoz said, who lives in Summit. "We've made a convenient target of 17-year-old kids."

Munoz admits her late husband Eric did vote in favor of this law, named after Morris County teenager Kyleigh D'Alessio, who died in a car accident as a passenger in a teen driver's car at age 16.

Munoz said the legislators at the time were touched by the story of one girl who died in an accident. But she says the state can't protect everyone from every thing that can happen to them.

"It's illogical," she said, saying instead of targeting new drivers with decals, the state would do better to require a full 11 months of having a permit before being eligible for your graduated driver's license to ensure teens have as much practice as possible before hitting the road on their own.

"It gives out a false sense of security that it's going to protect kids," she said of the decals.

Munoz, who was a nurse for 30 years before turning to politics after her husband's death, said she has seen the results of teen car crashes.

"Putting a sticker on the car isn't going to make it safer," she said, adding that it is unfortunate that 16-year-old D'Alessio died but added having a decal on the car she was in probably would not have stopped the crash.

While she says it does make a target of all teens unfairly, it is particularly concerning for female drivers. Munoz said she gets dozens of calls from mothers concerned about the risk their daughters will be at from people following them home late at night or breaking into their cars.

"We're profiling an entire group of students," Munoz said. "There are smart, sensible 17-year-olds. We've taken a whole group of teens and put them in a category to say that every single one is a bad driver."

Another thing Munoz disagrees with but isn't attempting to have repealed, is the more restrictive driving curfew.

While she says "nothing good comes after midnight" she said the state should not be legislating how late teens can be out driving. That's a job for the parents in setting teen curfews.

While Munoz did say teens can get exemptions from this restriction if they have evening employment, this restriction is unrealistic for most teens. For example, she says, no student in a high school theater production is going to be able to get home by 11 p.m.

"That is way too early," she said.

Probationary drivers caught without the decals could face a $100 fine. The law also requires the decals only when the probationary driver is at the wheel. So if parents and teens are sharing cars, the decal must be removed each time a parent is driving the car.

"We can't legislate every single thing," Munoz said. "Accidents happen. This will not change that."


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