The good old days of getting a driver’s license in three months are over after a new teen driving policy took effect in early 2008.

n 2007, 155 teens were killed in car crashes while only 92 died in 2008 after a new Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) Program law was passed Jan. 1, 2008 in Illinois. With a 40 percent decrease in teen car-related fatalities last year, the Secretary of State’s office hopes to keep up the good work.

The improved GDL program extended driving requirements for teens in Illinois, limited the amount of in-car distractions and stressed the importance of avoiding traffic convictions.

“If you can get them early training, you can get them from becoming another statistic,” said Secretary of State spokesman Henry Haupt.

Haupt stressed Secretary of State Jesse White’s concerns over the safety of teen drivers today and said the “end goal [of the new law] is to save lives.”

“The law has been very successful,” Haupt said, “and exceeds a lot of federal and national studies that have been done on teen driving records.”

When this new law passed last January, however, it was sure to produce some groans from driver’s education students across Illinois.

DeKalb was not an exception. Driver’s education teachers at DeKalb High School were faced with stricter policies producing a need for more optimism in the classroom.

For the last 16 years, Mark Sykes has worked at DHS as a driver’s education teacher. He believes the new GDL program has been helpful because young drivers could always use more practice.

“Better practice means they’ll be better on the road,” Sykes said.

According to Sykes, the GDL program has forced more kids to get their permits through private driving schools that may not require as demanding a driving curriculum as the high school. Even though Sykes would like to see more teens participate in the school driving program, his class sizes have stayed about the same as in recent years.

The DHS driver’s education program hasn’t seen many changes in its curriculum because its standards have to match up to what the state driver’s test asks of young drivers. Classes still demand the same amount of homework and hands-on practice as before, but teachers have to put up with more of an anxious crowd.

Teens in DeKalb don’t mind the increased driving practice hours or the earlier curfew as much as not getting their licenses on their 16th birthdays, Sykes said.