Legislators postponed a vote yesterday on a bill allowing New Hampshire teens to take driver education online so that two dramatically different amendments - one co-written by the bill's prime sponsor - could be married into one.

Several House Transportation Committee members said while they support the idea of online education, they could not vote for the bill without a requirement of lessons from a certified driving instructor.

But the sponsor, Rep. Laura Jones of Rochester, said she'll fight against that requirement when the bill goes before the full House, and she thinks she might win.

"A majority of the committee wants to move that forward, but I think the floor as a whole may have a different mindset," Jones said after the committee meeting.

The bill, which Jones sponsored along with Rep. Tara Sad, a Walpole Democrat, allows New Hampshire residents who are at least 15½ years old to take a driver education course online and complete 10 hours of driving time supervised by a parent, guardian or other licensed driver who is at least 30 years old.

At a hearing on the bill last month, teens and parents spoke out against the high cost of driver education courses, which range from $400 to almost $700 in different corners of the state.

The cost is prohibitive for many teens, who often opt to wait until they turn 18 when the educational requirement is waived. Allowing a lower-cost online option would put more educated drivers on the road, supporters said.

The executive session on the bill was an emotional one for several members of the committee, who described motor vehicle crashes they witnessed as law enforcement officers or as parents.

For Rep. Lisa Scontsas, whose 16-year-old daughter died in a car crash in 2008, without the professional instruction requirement, the bill loses her support.

With emotion breaking her words, she told the committee "you can't put a dollar on life. Safety comes first."

Rep. John Tholl, a Republican from Whitefield, proposed the amendment requiring professional instruction.

He supports online education, but not without real-world instruction, too, he said.

"My background is 40 years of law enforcement. . . . I don't want to pass a bill that compromises safety simply because it's cheaper," he said.

Some parents just sign the documents saying they did the required 40 hours of supervised driving with their teen when they haven't, Tholl said. What's to stop them from doing so under the new law, and how much would that limit teen drivers' training if that is all the supervised driving that's required, committee members said.

If the bill focused on home-schooling families, some representatives said they would have no problem supporting it without the professional instruction requirement. Parents who made the decision to home-school will be much less likely to skirt the requirements, they said.

"I mean no disrespect to the home-school community, but the rest of the state, we don't have that same commitment and level of dedication," said Rep. Brian Rhodes, a Democrat from Nashua, speaking in support of Tholl's amendment.

Jones, working with Rep. John Hikel of Goffstown, transportation committee clerk, proposed a different amendment increasing the required driving time to 20 hours, limiting the instruction to parents and grandparents and imposing a penalty on teens who fail their driving or written test after taking an online course.

Those students would then have to take an in-person driving education course.

"We tried to make it so everyone was happy. It's as reasonable as possible," said Rep. Kyle Jones, Rep. Laura Jones's son and a member of the transportation committee. (next page »)

Continued here:
Online driver education vote delayed