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South Dakota lawmakers are looking at making it illegal for anyone under 16 to use a cell phone while driving. It's one of a handful of proposed changes for the state's youngest drivers.
Seventeen-year-olds Tori Sundvold and Celest Reed have been driving for two years. Even though they are teens themselves, they don't like what they see with young drivers.
"I think they're horrible. They pretend to race and swerve into each other and cut people off, I think they're just not good at it," Sundvold said.
And she's right; South Dakota is considered to have some of the worst young drivers in the country.
Last year, the state formed a task force to come up with recommendations to improve teen driving.
One bill that passed the Senate Transportation Committee on Monday is to prohibit drivers under the age of 16 from using cell phones or other electronic devices while behind the wheel.
"I think it's irresponsible for anybody to use a cell phone because you get distracted when going on the phone because you aren't concentrating on what you're doing. You're thinking about the conversation," Reed said.
Another bill says anyone with a restricted driver's permit couldn't operate a vehicle carrying more than one passenger under the age of 18 who isn't a family member.
"I actually think that's pretty good because at 16, you kind of don't have a mature brain yet. So you probably get way too distracted listening to music or eating or something," Sundvold said.
"My dad wouldn't let me have more than one person in the car, so I didn't have that problem," Reed said.
Another bill that's passed the Senate Transportation Committee would set up a coordinated drivers' education program with statewide standards for course content, instruction, testing and certification of instructors.
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