Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 2, 1995                   TAG: 9507030072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

TEENS TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF PERMIT LAW

Teen-agers in long, baggy shorts, wearing baseball caps and oversized T-shirts, standing confidently in line with only an occasional glance back at mom or dad. The quick smiles at friends standing on other lines. Clutching study manuals, Social Security cards and birth certificates.

Saturday was "almost-Independence Day" for scads of teens across Virginia applying for their learner's permits at the ripe old age of 15 instead of waiting until they'd aged eight months more. Instead of sleeping late or watching videos, they spent Saturday morning jockeying for position in the lines at DMV offices.

Emmanuel Sessoms, branch manager of the Christiansburg Department of Motor Vehicles office, said the teens may be eager to get their instructional permits, but "it looks like we had more failing than we did passing."

His mid-morning guess proved correct. Of 46 people who took the 25-question written test, 24 failed.

When Sessoms drove into the parking lot at 7:05 a.m. Saturday, there were already two cars waiting for the office's 8:30 a.m. opening. For four hours, the office stayed "extremely busy," he said.

DMV offices will be closed Monday and Tuesday, and it was obvious many teens didn't want to wait until Wednesday.

Supporters of the new law say it gives teens a year to hone driving skills under the supervision of an adult driver rather than under the pressure of doing it in four months so they can get the real thing when they turn 16.

"That's what the philosophy is, and technically it's a good philosophy," Sessoms said. "It gives them the opportunity to have more road experience, which is good."

Marsha Jones, a sophomore at Christiansburg High School, had come with her birth certificate, Social Security number and a completed application, and with the $3 fee for an instructional permit. But she didn't know the new law also calls for applicants to pay a $12 operator's license fee up front.

Jones was waiting for her sister to pick her up and said she'd probably return Wednesday with the extra money.

She was handling it much better than others, who balled up their applications in disgust and muttered expletives as they left.

Sessoms said the new $12 pre-payment means that teens won't have to return to apply for an operator's license. Instead, the information is stored in the computers until the DMV receives notice the teens have completed driver's education training. Like others before them, they'll get their real permits after attending a session with a judge or commonwealth's attorney who will try to impress upon them the responsibility that comes with having a driver's license.