Some teen driving law changes are ready for the governor to sign and more are in the state Assembly, and high school parents learned about them Tuesday morning.

Pam Fischer, New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety director, spoke to the Millburn High School PTO about the current laws and how they are changing to improve teen safety on the road. She chairs the Teen Driver Study Commission, which made a number of recommendations to the governor and the state Assembly for changes to the teen driving laws.

The law changes ready for signature include a further restriction on night time driving of provisional drivers, further restriction on how many passengers are allowed in the car and the requirement of an identifying sticker on the license plates of cars driven by teens. The provisional license name would also be changed to probationary license.

The laws would not take effect until 13 months after Gov. Jon Corzine signs the bills into law.

Fischer asked parents if they knew what the graduated drivers license program was, and a few hands went up. More parents put up their hands when asked if they had a teen driver.

"As parents, we need to know this law," she said.

Under the current law, teens can get a driving permit at 16 years old and need behind the wheel training. A teen must have the permit for at least six months. At 17 years old, they can take a test to receive a provisional license, which has restrictions on night time driving, the number of passengers in the car and the use of portable electronic devices, most especially cellular phones.

Teens have a midnight curfew if they hold a provisional license and a 11 p.m. curfew if they're a permit holder. Fischer said the commission asked for the curfew to be changed to 11 p.m. for everyone, which is on the governor's desk waiting for his signature.

Teens who work or need to be out late because of a religious matter would be exempt, but they would need to have a letter certifying that to be the case, Fischer said.

The law also restricts teens to only drive with one non-family member, and Fischer said the changes would only allow one passenger no matter if it's a family member or not.

It would be easier to enforce, she said, because people can claim they are a family member and there is no way to prove otherwise.

A change also would require a provisional license holder or a permit holder to have an identifying sticker attached to the license plate, she said, so police know a teen is behind the wheel. It would make it easier for police to enforce the law, Fischer said.

The laws are minimum standards, Fischer said, and parents can put further restrictions on their teen drivers. They should also continually drive with teens to learn how they are driving, she said.

"You only know when they're ready (for a license)," she said. "If they need more practice, don't let them take the test."

Teens had previously been allowed to plea bargain traffic violations, she said, which means they were not getting points on their licenses. Teens are required to take a training class when they reach three points on their license. The state attorney general, however, has ended this practice, Fischer said.

Statistics show a New Jersey teen is involved in an accident every nine minutes, and car crashes are the number one killer of teens ages 16-20 years old. In 2001-2008, more than 400 New Jersey teen drivers and passengers died in car accidents. The number of teen crashes has increased by 4 percent between 2005 and 2007.

Much of the discussion also focused on a car accident last Saturday night in Roselle Park that killed one teen and seriously injured another. There were seven teens in the vehicle.

"Can you imagine those parents on Saturday night when they got the knock on the door," Fischer said. "None of us want to experience that."

Teens need 1,000 hours of driving before their crash risk drops, she said, and the number one cause of crashes is distractions like using a cellular phone, listening to music or talking to friends.

Alcohol does not show as a prevalent cause to teen crashes, although teens drink, she said. They do not get behind the wheel after drinking, she said.

"Now they are (text messaging) and driving," she said. "And texting and driving is as dangerous as drinking and driving."

The most dangerous months for teens to drive is June, when they are getting out of school; October, when it is getting darker earlier; and December when the weather can be bad. The most dangerous times of day for teens is 3-6 p.m. on Fridays and noon-3 p.m. every day.

"If you have an open lunch policy at your high school, consider rethinking it," she said. "Some high schools have done this, and the issues have improved."

Millburn High School has an open lunch policy for seniors. They are allowed to leave campus during their lunch period.