I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1515 
To provide driver safety grants to States with graduated driver licensing 
laws that meet certain minimum requirements. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 13, 2011 
Mr. BISHOP of New York (for himself, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 
Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. HONDA, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. SPEIER, Mrs. CAPPS, and 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To provide driver safety grants to States with graduated 
driver licensing laws that meet certain minimum require-
ments. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Teen and Novice 
Driver Uniform Protection Act of 2011’’ or the 
‘‘STANDUP Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
00:33 Apr 15, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1515.IH
H1515
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(1) The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad-
ministration has reported that— 
(A) motor vehicle crashes are the leading 
cause of death of Americans between 15 and 20 
years of age; 
(B) between 1999 and 2009, more than 
90,000 Americans were killed in motor vehicle 
crashes involving drivers between 15 and 20 
years of age, an average of 155 deaths per 
week; 
(C) drivers between 16 and 20 years of age 
have a fatality rate that is 4 times higher than 
the rate for drivers between 25 and 70 years of 
age; and 
(D) teenage drivers who are 16 years of 
age have a motor vehicle crash rate that is al-
most 10 times higher than the crash rate for 
drivers between 30 and 60 years of age. 
(2) The National Transportation Safety Board 
found that during the most recent 10-year period— 
(A) teen drivers comprised less than 7 per-
cent of the driving population and accounted 
for more than 13 percent of drivers involved in 
all deadly crashes; and 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
00:33 Apr 15, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1515.IH
H1515
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(B) more than 20 percent of all highway 
fatalities occurred in crashes that involved teen 
drivers. 
(3) Analysis by the Children’s Hospital of 
Philadelphia Research Institute shows that— 
(A) teenage drivers comprise approximately 
40 percent of the fatalities in motor vehicle 
crashes in which they are involved; and 
(B) the other 60 percent of the fatalities in 
those crashes are— 
(i) passengers who were riding in the 
vehicle with the teen driver; 
(ii) drivers and passengers in other 
vehicles involved in a crash with the teen 
driver’s vehicle; and 
(iii) pedestrians. 
(4) According to the Insurance Institute for 
Highway Safety— 
(A) the chance that a vehicle driven by a 
16- or 17-year-old will be involved in an acci-
dent— 
(i) doubles when there are 2 other 
teens in the vehicle; and 
(ii) quadruples when there are 4 teens 
in the vehicle; 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
00:33 Apr 15, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1515.IH
H1515
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(B) States with strong nighttime driving 
restrictions experience lower fatal crash rates 
among drivers ages 15 to 17 years old; and 
(C) a higher age requirement for licensing 
teen drivers is correlated with a lower number 
of fatal crashes per capita. 
(5) The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad-
ministration has found that distraction caused by 
cellular phones is significant enough to degrade driv-
er performance, and is particularly dangerous for in-
experienced drivers between 15 and 20 years of age. 
(6) That National Transportation Safety Board 
has found that although only 20 percent of driving 
by teenage drivers occurs at night, more than 50 
percent of the motor vehicle crash fatalities involving 
teenage drivers occur at night. 
(7) According to a 2007 report from the Texas 
Transportation Institute at Texas A & M Univer-
sity— 
(A) teenage drivers in rural areas are less 
likely to be aware of the risks and dangers as-
sociated with driving, placing them at higher 
risk of involvement in crashes; 
(B) teen drivers are more likely than other 
drivers— 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
00:33 Apr 15, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1515.IH
H1515
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(i) to drive with other teenage pas-
sengers; 
(ii) to drive late at night; 
(iii) to exceed the speed limit; 
(iv) to use cell phones while driving; 
and 
(v) to fail to use seat belts while driv-
ing. 
(8) The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad-
ministration reports that although 23 percent of the 
population of the United States lives in rural areas, 
57 percent of all traffic fatalities occur on rural 
roads, underscoring the elevated crash risk for teen 
drivers in rural areas. 
(9) The American Academy of Pediatrics has 
found evidence that the area of the brain responsible 
for planning, impulse control, and executive decision- 
making does not fully mature until a person is be-
tween 20 and 25 years of age, placing teen drivers 
at greater risk of being involved in an accident. 
(10) The Journal of the American Medical As-
sociation reports that after Michigan and North 
Carolina adopted comprehensive graduated driver li-
censing systems in 1997, crashes involving 16-year- 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
00:33 Apr 15, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1515.IH
H1515
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS