| Last week in Wallingford, CT (just outside Hartford, CT) a 16-year-old driver and one of his two 15-year companions were killed when the Nissan 350Z they were speeding in sailed over a hill crest and smashed into a tree. So, one of the 15-year old kids was in the hatch area. Somehow, he managed to survive. In the wake of this incident, CT legislators are considering legislation which moves the age required for a learner's permit to 16 1/2. There is also discussion of requring a six-month practice period so teenagers are 17 before they can get behind the wheel alone. In the 1990s, when Connecticut started requiring up to six months of supervised driving for 16-year-olds, the number of fatal crashes dropped by 22 percent. Changes in Kentucky yielded similar results. When Nova Scotia clamped down on 16-year-olds, adding a six-month learner's permit and prohibiting nighttime driving for two years, there was a 37 percent drop in crashes. In Massachusetts, when they started yanking the licenses of new drivers after one moving violation, the number of fatal crashes dropped by more than a third. (this information came from an article on the Hartford Courant's web site - courant.com) Unfortunately, some CT legislators are unwilling to back the proposed legislation because they fear that raising the driving age would be politically unpopular with parents of busy high school children who will now be forced to shuttle their kids around to games, meetings, practice, etc. If you want to see vid caps of the actual crash scene, there is a video at this link. Here is a pic for those that can't view it. 
Thankfully, no other cars were involved in the crash.
Raj 
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Something similar happened here last week... - 
