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

DATE: MONDAY, April 26, 1993                   TAG: 9304260058
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

TEENS SAY PROPOSED DRIVING CURFEW ISN'T FAIR

That could change if a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board is accepted by Western Virginia localities: Teens would be required to be off the roads at night.

Last month, the board recommended a nationwide crackdown on teen-age driving, including a nighttime curfew on driving by 16- and 17-year-olds between midnight and 5 a.m.

Many teens say it's not fair.

"The government is stepping out of bounds," said Todd Slaughter, a senior at Patrick Henry High School. "That's an option that should be left to parents."

Beth Keith, a junior at Liberty High School in Bedford County, says it's just another way to stop young people from having some freedom.

"The general populace think all teens are bad when they're not," she said.

The safety board says half of teen-age fatalities occur at night, when only 20 percent of teen-agers are driving. National statistics say 15- to 20-year-olds account for 14.9 percent of all driver fatalities, although they comprise only 7.1 percent of licensed drivers.

About 30 percent of teen-age drivers killed in 1991 tested positive for alcohol.

Those statistics didn't surprise some teen-agers.

"There's always booze at parties these days," 16-year-old Tracy Barr said. A curfew isn't going to stop anyone who's willing to break the law to drink and drive, he said. Barr, a Salem High student, expects to get his driver's license this month.

But most teens are not drinking and driving, says Jennifer Garcia, 16, a William Fleming High School student. "Or they're hiding it real well," she said. Garcia works part time at a Hardee's near Williamson Road and sees many young drivers hanging out in the restaurant's parking lot. She doesn't get off until after midnight on weekends, she said. During the summer she'll probably work until after 1 a.m.

Salem High School senior Keith Moyer says not all teens are out partying after midnight. Authorities have to take into consideration that there are legitimate reasons for teens to be on the streets late at night, such as going to or from work, he said. Others mentioned early morning hunting or fishing trips.

Most communities say they allow for legitimate late-night activity.

Roanoke's curfew exempts young drivers on their way to or from an event, such as a school dance, said Mark Johnson, chairman of the city's curfew committee. The Police Department can stop a young driver if he or she is "joy riding," he said.

"We had kids driving up and down Williamson Road," Johnson said. "So there is a concern for kids who just hop in a car and ride around. The current ordinance does address that."

In Christiansburg, many teens drive from one fast-food restaurant to another, said Michael Farrow, 17. He says the driving curfew is unrealistic. "They can't control the numbers of teens out there at that time," he said.

Farrow says he's usually home by midnight because there's nothing else to do, and driving aimlessly around town is boring. "I have more sense to save my gas," he said.

Fleming student Kelly Whorley, 17, has little faith that a driving curfew would be enforced, because the city's current curfew isn't enforced. Many of her friends, she said, have been out after hours without being stopped by police.

The 11 o'clock curfew, which applies Sunday through Thursday to teens 16 and younger, was revised last July. Teen-agers can stay out until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights.

If it hasn't been enforced in the past, this summer that will change.

Starting Saturday, "police will be very aggressive in the application of this ordinance, and we won't hesitate to stop a child" on the street after curfew, Johnson said. Schools and parents will be notified. If it happens a third time, the teen's parent could be fined $2,500 and get up to one year in jail.

"If it happens a third time there's a good case to be made for neglect on the part of the parent," Johnson said.

The city is asking the state legislature to let localities impose fines on juveniles who violate curfews and to allow suspension of driving privileges if he or she is found guilty of drunken driving, he said.

Some localities had to dig out their ordinances to find out if they had one and what it said.

Salem doesn't have one.

Christiansburg Town Manager John Lemley pulled out the code book to discover his town's ordinance stated that 15-year-olds and younger must be off the streets by 10 p.m., unless they are accompanied by an adult or have a legitimate reason to be out.

Bedford's curfew is 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. from April to September; during winter it starts at 10 p.m. It's a Class 4 misdemeanor that could bring a $250 fine, Bedford Police Chief Milton Graham said.

"We only use it when we feel a child is up to something he shouldn't be," he said. "They have to do something to get our attention."

Graham said he would use the ordinance to get the teen-agers home if he suspected they were drinking and driving. He couldn't say if the safety board's recommendation was the answer to curb alcohol-related accidents.

A warning is all it takes for some young people to get the message but others need to be fined each time they're stopped, Graham said.

A curfew is not going to stop young people who are willing to drink and drive. After all, "obviously they're not law-abiding citizens," Slaughter says. The problem is that teens don't have anywhere to mingle with friends, complained Charles Davis, a student at Fleming. As a result, they drive up and down the streets and stop in fast-food parking lots, he said.

Whorley suggested that businessmen or city officials could make money by building a parking area where teens could pay a small fee to "hang out."

That's not a good idea, Johnson says. Roanoke "has a pretty good track record" for providing activities for young people, but "they need to be supported by the teens," he said.

Some teens say they don't start partying until late in the evening. Others are bound by their parents' curfews.

Whorley's parents set her deadline for 11:30 p.m. and midnight on weekends, she said. They make the payments for her car and pay the insurance, so if she misses her curfew she doesn't get to use the car the next time she wants to go out, she said.

"If I'm going to be late, all I have to do is call," she said.

In Bedford, Todd Brookshier, 17, has to be home by 12:30 a.m. He has a deal with his parents that if he doesn't drink, they'll pay his car insurance, he said. And because he's an honor-roll student, the insurance company gives him a reduced rate.

Beth Keith also gets a reduced rate because of her grades, but there should be more incentives to young people to be responsible drivers, she says. Penalties for drunken driving should be stiffer, she said.