Rules of the Road About to Change

Teenagers will have a tougher time getting driver’s licenses and face major restrictions once they do. Anyone caught driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol will have a bigger price to pay. And the owners of older cars will get a break on their smog-inspection requirements.

All these are among the driving laws taking effect in 1998. Other laws have to do with the rights of disabled drivers and school buses.

Here are the new laws:

* Beginning July 1, California teens will be required to have a learner’s permit for at least six months before taking the driving test.

Current law allows them to take a road test after only 30 days of holding a learner’s permit, available at age 15 1/2 upon passing a written test administered by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Under the new law, during the sixth-month training period teens will be required to have at least 50 hours of supervised driving practice, including at least 10 hours during darkness, certified by either a parent or licensed driving instructor.

Upon successful completion of the DMV road test, a young driver will be issued a provisional license. For the first six months, the driver will not be allowed to carry passengers younger than 20, nor drive between midnight and 5 a.m. without an accompanying licensed driver at least 25 years old or permission from a doctor, employer, school or parent.

During the second six months, the driver will be able to transport passengers of any age but will still not be allowed to drive after midnight.

Provisional licenses will apply only to drivers 16 to 18 years old.

* Anyone found guilty of driving under the influence twice within 10 years will be designated a habitual traffic offender and have his or her license revoked for four years and required to complete a treatment program. First-time offenders will automatically have their licenses suspended for six months.

Another new law requires the DMV to revoke for three years the license of anyone driving a school bus, school pupil activity bus, youth bus or public vehicle used to transport disabled people if the driver tests positive for drugs.

* Under current law, cars manufactured in 1966 or earlier are exempt from the smog check required of newer cars every other year. The new law will move that up to 1973, as well as introduce a rolling exemption for any car that is at least 30 years old, beginning in 2003. New cars will be exempt from the biennial smog inspection requirements for their first four years.

Finally, the $39 new-car owners could pay in lieu of the first smog check will be eliminated.

* A new law mandates the DMV to print a notice on all disabled parking placards issued after Jan. 1, 1999, requiring service station attendants, even at self-service islands, to pump gasoline for disabled drivers. The DMV will also provide such a notice to anyone issued a disabled person’s license plate.

* School bus drivers will be required to flash red warning lights at every stop, bringing passing traffic to a halt while children exit the bus.

Current law requires drivers to turn on the bus’ flashing red lights--which signals traffic to halt--only when they know that children leaving the bus need to cross the street.

The new law, called the Thomas Edward Lanni School Bus Safety Act of 1997, is named after an Orange County youngster who was struck and killed by a truck three years ago while crossing the street in front of a school bus.

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County Edition, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him at David.Haldane@latimes.com. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.