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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

HOT TOPICS:

▪ Proposed law in Maine would mandate decals on newly licensed drivers’ vehicles

▪ California DMV: New driver's license scams expected in the state

▪ Utah school bus driver accused of DUI wants her driver’s license back

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Proposed law in Maine would mandate decals on newly licensed drivers’ vehicles

Lewiston Sun Journal

Proposed ‘Taylor’s Law’ would mandate decals on newly licensed Maine drivers’ vehicles

Christopher Cousins, Bangor Daily News

Maine | Wednesday, December 17, 2014

AUGUSTA — Two state senators have answered a grieving family’s call for additional restrictions on newly licensed Maine drivers to prevent them from transporting passengers who aren’t family members.

Taylor Darveau, 15, died in an October 2013 crash when she was riding in a car driven by a 16-year-old with an intermediate license. Her parents, Christina and Corey Darveau of Bucksport, are spearheading an effort designed to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Taylor Darveau, a Bucksport High School cheerleader, had just attended a dinner at the school with the football team. The vehicle she was in, driven by a classmate, hit a tree on Bucksmills Road. Darveau was later pronounced dead; the driver, Samantha Goode, was injured but survived.

It’s against Maine law for drivers with intermediate licenses to carry passengers who were not immediate family members, unless accompanied by a licensed driver who is at least 20 years old, has held a valid driver’s license for two years and is sitting beside the driver.

Goode admitted in Hancock County District Court to causing Taylor Darveau’s death — the equivalent of a guilty plea for a juvenile — and was sentenced to 30 days with all but 10 days suspended. Goode will be on probation until she turns 19 years old, and her license was suspended for five years.

That accident was one of three that month in which young Mainers were killed or injured in vehicles being driven by people with intermediate licenses. Christina and Corey Darveau took action with the creation of the T.A.Y.L.O.R (Thinking About Your Life On the Road) Foundation, which is proposing a law that would require drivers with intermediate licenses to affix decals to their vehicles identifying their license status. The idea is to make the new drivers stand out to law enforcement officers and families.

“Taylor’s Law,” as it is already known, is the subject of a bill sponsored by Sen. Kimberley Rosen, R-Bucksport, and co-sponsored by Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport. Details included in the bill won’t be available for weeks while its language is drafted, but the Darveaus and other supporters of Taylor’s Law met Monday with Thibodeau and Rosen in Augusta to begin work on the proposed legislation.

The law would make Maine the second state in the nation, after New Jersey, to require intermediate drivers to label their cars. Early talk was for Maine to develop pink decals, but organizers say they will leave it to the secretary of state to determine what is appropriate.

In New Jersey, the decals are placed on registration plates, with the intention that any law enforcement officer who sees the decal on a car that contains passengers would pull the car over, with probable cause, to make sure the passengers are family members.

“This will help a lot with law enforcement and general awareness,” said Corenna O’Brien, a spokeswoman for the TAYLOR Foundation, who Christina and Corey Darveau authorized to speak for the family. “It’s similar to a sign a student driver would have while they’re in driving school.”

The proposal is supported by the Maine Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association and a range of law enforcement agencies, according to O’Brien.

“Sometimes our children think they are invincible. We have to ensure their safety so no family has to lose their child and no law enforcement officer has to investigate a fatal teen accident,” said Christopher Blanchard, a training officer with Bangor Police Department and vice president of the TAYLOR Foundation, in a written statement. “It’s better for us to be inconvenienced for a moment than to have a young life cut short.”

Thibodeau and Rosen said supporting the bill was an easy decision.

“I am proud of the Darveau family for being so creative to turn their grief into such a powerful tool to help other teens and their families to hopefully never have to go through what they have gone through with the loss of their daughter, Taylor,” said Rosen.

“Obviously everyone’s concerned about young drivers and making sure these tragic stories aren’t repeated,” said Thibodeau. “This won’t eliminate tragic stories, but if it eliminates one or two, it’s worthy of doing.”

The TAYLOR Foundation is also launching an online public service announcement and has other plans centered around public education.

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California DMV: New driver's license scams expected in the state

South Tahoe Now

DMV: New driver's license scams expected in California

Submitted by paula on Tue, 12/16/2014 - 9:28pm

With the passing of AB 60 in California a large group of new applicants for driver's licenses is expected, and with that a new group of scams targeting an unsuspecting population.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has issued a warning to customers that they need to watch for scams involving the application process.

“Paying someone who promises to speed up the process of obtaining a California driver license will only waste your time and money,” said DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. “It is easy to get a new driver license by making a free appointment at your local DMV office, so do not waste your money paying anyone to help you.”

Assembly Bill 60 (AB 60) allows the DMV to issue a California driver license, regardless of immigration status, to those who can prove identity and California residency. Applicants must also meet all other qualifications for obtaining a driver license, including passing a written test, vision test, and behind-the-wheel exam. DMV will begin issuing driver licenses under AB 60 on January 2, 2015. The only necessary fee is $33 payable to DMV.

Here are some tips on how to avoid driver license scams:

- Do not pay for help with driver license applications: DMV has free assistance and free appointments at your local DMV office, so do not pay for these services. Driver license handbooks and practice tests are available in many languages free of charge. If you need an interpreter, call 1-800-777-0133 and indicate the foreign language.

- Do not pay fees to anyone except DMV: It only costs $33 to obtain a California driver license and this fee must be paid directly to DMV. Do not pay anyone except DMV.

- The fast way to get a license is to make a free appointment at DMV: The DMV will not issue licenses under AB 60 before January 2, 2015, and anyone who says they can get a license earlier than January 2, 2015, is lying.

- Do not waste money on unnecessary document translation: Of the dozens of ways an applicant can prove identity, only three require an English translation: (1) A marriage decree written in another language; (2) a divorce decree written in another language; or (3) the Apostille authentication of a foreign birth certificate. No other documents require translation.

Here is the complete list of documents applicants can use to proof identity under AB 60.

Anyone who suspects a scam involving the new driver license application process should notify DMV Investigations Division fraud hotline at 1-866-658-5758, e-mail your inquiry to dlfraud@dmv., or report it on Investigations record of complaint form.

For more information on AB 60, including the accepted proof of identity documents, how to make an appointment, sample interactive tests, the driver handbook, and information about how to obtain a new driver license, visit: .

Story on…

Utah school bus driver accused of DUI wants her driver’s license back

Salt Lake Tribune

Utah bus driver accused of DUI wants her driver’s license back

By JESSICA MILLER | The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Dec 16 2014 12:09PM • Last Updated Dec 16 2014 08:50 pm

Arrest » Lycia Martinez was arrested after erratically driving her school bus in October.

The Davis County School District bus driver who was recently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence is now asking for a judge to reverse her driver license suspension.

Lycia Martinez, 39, is accused of erratically driving her school bus — carrying about 70 schoolchildren and their adult chaperones — on Oct. 13. Several witnesses, including a chaperone inside the bus, called 911 to report several near-collisions with other vehicles.

"She almost hit this van next to us!" one chaperone told dispatchers as the bus sped through southern Salt Lake County during a field trip to Brigham Young University in Provo. "OK, I am honestly shaking at this point. I’m going to just close my eyes so I see nothing."

After a Utah Highway Patrol trooper pulled the bus over, Martinez was arrested on suspicion of DUI and other charges.

After the arrest, the her license was suspended for 120 days, according to court records filed by her attorney earlier this month.

Now, Martinez is asking for a judicial review of the license suspension, arguing that she suffered memory loss from migraine medication given to her the day after the arrest and was unaware of a 10-day window to request a driver license hearing.

Her attorney, Bradley Schofield, argued in the petition that his client was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs that day, but had suffered from a migraine and was distracted by several radio calls.

"Due to a shortage of bus drivers and confusion for the school district, [Martinez] received several calls on the bus radio regarding her regular route," Schofield wrote. "The radio is above the head of the driver and is difficult to get the microphone in and out of the slot. [Martinez] believes this may have caused the bus to drift."

Schofield said that his client received a shot the following day from her physician to treat her migraine. That medication can cause memory loss, he said.

"Due to [Martinez’s] migraine headache that persisted and the added stress of a DUI citation, she did not request a driver license hearing within 10 days," Schofield wrote, adding that Martinez did request a hearing on Oct. 28 when she became aware of the hearing, but that request was denied.

Schofield also noted that a toxicology test on a blood sample from Martinez was never completed because "there was insufficient quantity for testing."

Martinez is asking that both her personal and commercial driver’s licenses be reinstated, according to court documents.

She was pulled over near 12300 South and arrested after failing field sobriety tests, according to UHP officials. Officials said at that time that they believed medications, not alcohol, were believed at the root of the driver’s alleged intoxication. Four different bottles of pills, for which Martinez had prescriptions, were found in her possession.

Martinez was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of an enhanced class A misdemeanor count of DUI because children under age 16 were on the bus.

She also was booked on suspicion of failing to operate within one lane, a class C misdemeanor. Bail was set at $2,120.

No criminal case had been filed in district or justice court related to the October incident as of Tuesday morning.

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