Stupid ruling

It doesn't invade their privacy as much as it probably violates 'equal protection' (14h amendment) unless all drivers are required to declare their age on their license plate.

They provide a nifty profiling tool for Johnny Law as well!

We need silver decals for the 65+

NJ needs decals for drunk drivers and child molesters not teenage drivers.

as part of my defensive driving skills,drunk drivers side to side between the lines with braking and sometimes forgetting there headlights,now its that little red sticker and my driver awareness inside 100 ft

Sam,

It seems to me from reading the Patch that the majority of the Police activity is actions taken against the youth of the town. The sad irony being we move to such an area to protect our kids from crime, and with the town having little crime, our kids, become the crime. And those red stickers make it even easier to find them.

As for the Law? The Spiit may have had good intentions, but in practice I only know that a prosecutor said to me is has not accomplished what it set out to do, and the majority of kids paying fines did nothing wrong. Certainly nothing criminal or reckless. Also, know that should your child get a speeding ticket and 3 points, your insurance could go up $1000 or more a year for 3 years. And that is with perfect records for the parents.

The overzealous PD in Hopatcong do not descriminate, as evidenced by the number of grandmas pulled over live a swat raid

It's ok to profile kids, but not child molesters, drunk drivers, or Islamic extremists?

@ SIr excellent point!

I am more worried about perverts who see that a young teen girl is driving and then go after them.

I for one refuse to abide by this and I will not put my children at risk by doing so. I will openly defy this and I encourage others to do the same.

I cannot believe this is still happening. When my oldest daughter got her license this rule upset me to no end and I thought by the time my youngest daughter got her license this would have been repealed. I am not worried about our police officers, I am worried about the perverts out their looking for teenagers to harass or molest. These stickers are making our kids targets for the crazy people!! I am appalled!!

Whats next? Stars on Jewish owned cars? Stickers for the elderly? Nazi Germany was a police state also....food for thought!

Of course the police target young people...they cant afford a lawyer to fight the ticket!

I'm not for any tags on a car. First of all, should my daughter (or sons) have a red tag
on the back of her car for some perv to notice as she drives home alone at 10pm from work so she becomes easy prey? Furthermore, no one should have a tag. I don't care if you've had a dwi (put the breathalyzer in the car)), have silver hair, have had a reckless driving ticket, anything. It's big brother yet again and it's sickening.

NO STICKERS AT ALL!!! WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO??? LOVE PEACE AND RESPECT !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stop over-reacting. Unless your car windows are totally blacked out any perv can see your teenage daughter driving around. This, ladies and gents, is about feeding the beast. You get a summons for Kyleigh's law and it's a) mandatory court appearance (i.e., court costs) and b) $106 fine. That's after you pay $4/pair for these stupid things that are made in China for 12.3 cents. The best part is these decals attach to the plate with velcro. So, of course, moron teenagers get their kicks from ripping the decals off their friends cars.

Let's put stickers on politicians cars, this way we can identify who comes up with these absurd regulations! I think the restrictions on teenage driving are good. The stickers are a BAD idea. I'm very disappointed with the ruling from NJ Supreme Court.

Well said Adriana. Agreed Madison. No stickers...period! Lets say you're someone who is ok with using the sticker, the biggest problem is the kids getting their kicks out of taking them off the plates. Thats when you'll get the tkt for not having one! Unfair. Ridiculous.

It's an outrage and a violation of personal privacy. The "police state" mentality of this ruling is most disturbing.

The point is being misconstrued as the decal is so Police Officers can assertain whether or not the driver has a graduated drivers license. "IF" they see a sticker they can then see how many people are in the car. "IF" there are more than 2 people in the car then they will get pulled over. To think a "perv." will look for red stickers as opposed to looking in the window of the car is absurd. Kids drive in bunches "IF" you think "YOUR" child doesnt your naive. Of course kids dont want stickers, anything not to be identified by the police. Mrs Weeks was/is simply trying to protect other family's from losing loved ones and should be praised for pursuing this endeavor. I was party to a very bad accident which involved Tanners Uncle and in a different situation where I lost my best friend at the time Mrs. Weeks brother. When I was growing up we lost quite a few kids in automobile accidents and almost all had too many kids in the car as well as drinking. Come on, get over yourself be a parent not a friend to your kids, support Mrs. Weeks and support the courts ruling as it is "only" for "your" benefit.

Its just like NYC stop and frisk it will single these kids out not fair.

The police are not singling out anyone in particular simply upholding the law and trying to keep your family alive and well. Bunches of kids in a car causes chaos and distractions. The 17 year old has no experience with driving PLUS without a doubt using their phone talking and texting. This is a good thing for your kids. I tell you what, follow your kid whe they go out and see how long before they are on the phone and filling up the car.

Mark - how is this a good thing? Please explain. Can the police not simply look through a window to indentify if someone is young or not?

They should have a big sticker on the back windshield indicating the number of points the idiot (any age) drivers have on their licenses and how many DUIs they have.

Driving is a privilege, not a right and should be taken away more freely than it is.

I almost got killed by a 17 year old driver going 65 in a 40, near a school in Hillsborough. New drivers should have the red sticker and they should be profiled since they are the ones that cause the most stress and accidents on the road.

I see more adults driving with the red stickers left on their car than teens. Simply put, red stickers will not stop kids from making a poor decision about driving with too many people in the car or driving drunk like the law is supposed to protect.

"hey johnny, I'm hungry let's go get some sonic.".... "Nah, I can't, I have a red decal on my car."..... NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!!! This law should be repealed and rethought.

Mark, I don't think kids are as stupid as you seem to imagine them..

#1. The cops don't give a crap about keeping your family "alive and well" with these stickers. It's money for New Jersey.

#2. Not all teenage driver are irresponsible like you say, nor do they all text while driving. In fact, most 17 year old drivers do not text while they drive because they are still inexperienced, and don't know "the roads".

I can GUARANTEE you that more adult drivers text while driving, simply because they think they are more skilled drivers, and therefor, will not be in an accident.

Florida tried a similar "red dot" sticker program back in the late 80's-early 90's. It was intended to identify rental car driver's. The program was stopped after a dozen or so people were targeted over the possibility of carrying expensive luggage and large amounts of cash.
New Jersey is well known for taking a common-sense law and adding something stupid into it, and this is another one of those cases. It's easy to spot these laws because the law has an (S) in the beginning. The letter is the identifier much like the sticker.
This one in particular is discriminatory and dangerous.

Is there a petition to have this abomination of a law repealed? If not, let's get one started.

Mark, drivers should be pulled over based on how they are driving period. Everything else is just feeding the beast as another poster stated.
Kyleigh and the others in the car that night were already breaking laws. Why think MORE laws would make a difference. It's ridiculous. My GDL drivers won't be using them.

Sir:
How can the Police look through a window and determinbe age, this is not a circus and IF they stop someone arbitrarily because they "look" young they will probably get in trouble for thinking not knowing, thus the sticker.
Alec:
The cops do give a crap thats why they became Police Officers, to serve and protect. and if you dont think most 17 year olds are irresponsible you have blinders on or you simply dont want to believe your child is irresponsible, the vast majority are, wake up. Dont believe me follow your kid one time, you'll be surprised. and kids texting and talking your very very naive, sorry your wrong, GUARANTEED !

Cash:
Many have tried to repeal this law, luckily they havent won.

I hope none of you go through a childs death but it will happen to many in every class. ask your children especially older children how many of their friend are gone.

I agree with all of the comments stating this will target our teens. As a mother of two girls now ages 23 and 20 they had gone to school with Kyleigh and the other young people who got into the wreck and it was HORRIBLE.I have the upmost respect for all of the parents and I can understand that Kyleigh's mother believes she is helping the teens and she is also keeping her daughter alive by getting this law passed. Well we all know that unfortunately that will not ever happen. From what I understand the four kids in that car did not make the correct choices that day and were breaking a few law as it was.

The issue is that the law simply does not work. Why? Every car that a provisional driver ‘might’ drive must have a sticker on it. This means every car within a family will have this sticker. Soooo, a sticker ‘might’ indicate a provisional driver, but it also might indicate the provisional driver’s parents, older sibling, or anyone else in the family who is not a provisional drive. I’ve seen many cars on the road with these sticker that are definitely NOT driven by provisional drivers. Therefore, the whole purpose of the law, which is to identify provisional drivers, is defeated. Ask any cop about this and he will admit this.

Kyleigh’s Law is once again another ‘feel good’ law that was banged in without a bit of analysis and forethought. Practically, it is mostly worthless.

I don't feel that strongly either way about this law, but I find the reactions by people to be a bit over the top.

I'm not sure that the decals will truly help deter bad driving by young license holders. However, it does help cops identify kids out after curfew or who have too many kids in the car from my understanding. (These are not issues for senior citizens or new drivers of older ages.)

I do think it obviously helps cops profile, which could certainly lead to abuse.

However, I struggle with the idea that this law somehow puts our children in danger of being stalked by pedophiles. If you're a pedophile, isn't it a lot easier to just wait outside a school or mall parking lot, or hang out at a park?

Perhaps the legal basis for opposing this might be as a case of profiling, rather than trying to argue that it is an invasion of privacy. What do you think?

I don't think the invasion of privacy argument ever held water. The government grants you a license to use public roads, and that license can be offered only pursuant to specific rules and restrictions. We all have to carry insurance, abide by speed limits, stay hands-free with our cell phones, etc., and no one is arguing invasion of privacy. It's an absurd argument to make. Profiling? That seems to me to carry more water...

Denobin, we'll have to agree to disagree. First of all, I think people are ridiculously paranoid about stalkers/predators/pedophiles because they're wound up over an exaggerated emphasis on these stories in the news. They are sexy headlines that garner high ratings so we see them all the time and assume the whole world iis chalk full of rapists. It's absurd.

Second, I don't think any such criminal will make the determination as to who to victimize based on a sticker on a car. They will size up victims like always - watching and assessing them from a physical and behavioral point of view. Is the argument really that some rapist would be driving down a highway, see a sticker and decide to follow that car to see if they can "get" the driver? Really? I'm unconvinced.

All that said, I should reiterate that I'm not a huge proponent of the law b/c I'm not convinced it will accomplish much. I just think the idea that all 16 year old kids are going to suddenly be targeted by rapists b/c of a sticker on their licenses is preposterous.

Denobin,sorry but what you dont understand is your idea of a tragedy is not a tragedy,definition of a Tragedy.... law inforcement/ambulance personal arriving at these possible accident scenes with victims throughout the vehicle front and back,rear seat passengers not wearing seatbelts,head traumas, helicopters,Fire dept needing to setting up landing zones...and area EMR personall waiting for all the arrivals possibly understaffed,not to forget any possiblity of loss of life the state sends a investigative team to document /investigate these accidents as a crime scene,photos,video,and measurements thats the scene in my mind,yours argument against is still in the boogieman stage

A point of clarity – presently the red stickers are Velcro (hook) so they can be removed. There is a white (latch) sticker permanently attached to the plate. So to a trained observer there is still indication that the vehicle at some point is driven by a person with a GDL.

I did not put these stickers on my daughter car. I bought them and kept them in the glove box. My daughter 17, working 2 jobs and going to high school and always on honor roll. She is hardly irresponsible. I had her car wired for hands free phone usage. I taught her to not pull over at night if she was afraid but to cal 911 and stay on phone with them until more police were following or she got to the nearest pd. your right Mark I am not her friend. I am her parent. I decided she will not have the stickers. They were on for her road test and they came right off. Tragedy after tragedy happens every day. Two kids just drown in New Brunswick so how long until mandatory swim lessons? How long until someone tells you how old your kid has to be before he can go to the park? 4 kids were just ejected from a car on Rt 80 horrible 2 died A sticker could not have prevented it. Kyleigh should not have died. No child should. I refuse to put my kids at risk because of a mistake that someone else's child did. So many things her mother could have done. Putting MY child at risk was unfair and I will not allow it.

Why does your age need to be identified? If you do something illegal, the police should pull you over and do whatever is necessary. Your license will tell them how old you are. I really feel strongly about putting a decal on a car to identify a teen driver. Identifies them as young to all the creeps out there! As Dee states all of this because a girl was killed. People are killed in car accidents all the time. It's a part of life. I feel horrible for her Mother. It is a pain you should never have to go through but why punish every other teenager? MADD doesn' t have decals on cars of people that have been arrested for drunk driving do they?

People forget about the incident in Mt Olive. A girl was pulled over by a man inpetsonating a police officer Everyone needs to understand there are so many problems and issues in this world today. Forget about Hooatcong. Across the board parents are for the most part teaching their kids right from wrong. I don't need law after law telling me how to raise my kids. I'm sure one of them somewhere down the road are going to make a mistake. There are no perfect parents or kids. I think education would have been a better approach for this woman to take Kids to listen so let's give them some credit. They are not all bad. Kyleigh made a mistake and she paid with her life. Very sad and heart breaking. But enough is enough with these laws named after someone who dies. It was a car accident. Tragic yes but requiring more laws no. No disrespect to kyleighs mother

Next, it will be a fineable offense if a motorist does not have a GDL and is driving with a red sticker....

Anna, yes. I have 2 children. They are not yet of driving age.

Denobin, chill out. Nothing I said warranted such a nasty response unless you have anger management issues with people who have a different opinion from yours.

Know what? Sending your daughter to the mall or a movie might put her at risk for being stalked by a predator. Are you going to keep your kids in a bubble until they're 30?

Look my point is simple: we don't have enough evidence to support the argument that this law will protect kids, and we don't have enough evidence to support that it will harm them. It's a cost benefit analysis without data, only gut feelings - hence my ambivalence. I don't strongly support or oppose the law because we don't know whether it's worth it. But I stand by my personal opinion that people are being paranoid about the stalker/predator issue. Personal opinion despite your disdain for my ability to have one. Sorry.

The tragedy that caused the death of Kyleigh D'Alessio was the direct result of her breaking the law regarding teenage passengers that were prohibited in a car that was driven by someone with a provisional drivers license. The law that was already in effect allowed 1 passenger. Kyleigh was riding with multiple teenage passengers when the accident that caused her death occured.
The current law wasn't re written, it was re named Kyleigh's Law after the mother pleaded for "sticker's" to be placed on the tags of all provisional driver's cars. Her mother Donna Weeks requested orange stickers because it was her favorite color. Kyleigh had already died her hair orange and dorned a nose earring.
The democratic legislators heard arguements that appealed to evoking the compassion of the politican's, as teary eyed Donna Weeks claimed the law would prevent further teenage accidents from happening.
The stickers will not teach teenagers anything about the law, or instill any new sense of responsibility towards driving or being a multiple passenger in a vehicle that is being operated by a provisional licensed driver. Therefor, Kaleighs fate would not have changed if the car had them or not.
Proper education and responsibility don't need stickers to prevent tragic accidents.

I am not for the "sticker" or aganist it, why dont we teach young and old; texing and chatting on the cell phone casues accident which could take a life! When will a cell phone company make a phone that goes silent when you plug it into your adapter while driving..car computers are so smart it could disable your phone while in gear! that would save a life....OR lets educate all our children, again "young and old" about the danger of drugs...that appears to be more of an issue from what i read in the papers, a sticker, what is that going to do? give it some thought........

Here's one for everybody: How about we put a silver sticker on senior citizens license plates? You know, just to make sure that they're not having a stroke or heart attack. Don't worry that they may become the target of a mugging or carjacking because they are old. It's for everyone's safety!
How about requiring that you put a sticker on your rear when you're carrying more that $1000 in cash? Why not? This way the police can check to make sure you're not a drug dealer. Don't worry, no one will try to rob you. It's for everyone's safety!
Would you put a sign on your car that says your teenage daughter is alone in the car?
Of course not, but this law would have you do the equivalent.
BTW: Our esteemed Star-Ledger has an op-ed piece today in support of the supreme court decision. Why doesn't everyone write in and let them know how you feel?

Excerpt from Star_Ledger piece: "The red decals don't make teen drivers safer, but they are the best tool that police have to spot teen drivers and enforce safe-driving laws. The more tickets written, the more word will spread that those laws should be taken seriously." So there you have it. This is not about protecting our kids, it's solely about making it easier to write tickets. Thank you for the honesty, Star-Ledger editor.

I belive that the stickers could put my daughter in danger quite simply why risk it

Denobin, we're good. Thanks for your consideration and please know that I truly understand where you're coming from.

I don't think it should have been argued as a violation of privacy. It isn't. What it if anything, I would say, would be some sort of discrimination not sure if it would be age or possibly sex discrimination? I only say that because even though boys are targets, women are statistically at a disadvantage of an assault. It isn't a proper way to uphold the laws. None of this was necessary when I was driving. We had kids due in school from car accidents. Think of something else to uphold the law. Remember when the seatbelt law first came out? You could not be pulled over for just not wearing one. But you could get a ticket if you were not wearing one and pulled over for something else. I feel for this girls mother I really do but I don't agree with it. I am more afraid of the drunk driver that might be next to me than a kid who has a GDL.

The #1 killer of teens is car crashes, not predators, not drugs, not suicide... it's car crashes. The best "proven" tool we have for addressing this is Graduated Driver Licensing (studied around the world), which puts in place provisions that restrict teens from doing those things that cause them the greatest risk (distraction caused by their peers, driving at night, using electronic devices). However, if these provisions aren't enforced -- and teens know without an identifer police can't enforce them -- there will be teens who simply violate the law. While GDL enforcement has to start at home, once a teen driver is on the road it's up to law enforcement to intervene if they violate these provisions and put themselves and others at risk (60% of people who are injured or killed by teen drivers are other roadway users). This concept of identifying novice drivers via decal or placard has been used in other countries (UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan) for years without incident. It not only aids with enforcement, but alerts other drivers a novice is on the road. My son will be taking his driving test next week -- we have the decals on our cars and they'll remain until he's fully licensed. Yes, I'm the chief enforcer of GDL, but I want him stoppped and cited if he violates the law. Rather he get a ticket, then I get a knock on my front door. Extreme? Yes, but it's my job to ensure he survives the most dangerous thing he'll do in his teen years -- drive.

Total agree that it puts the kids in danger of predators and also law enforcement that are not quite the most honest people. Also, I really think its not the governments business how old the people driving the car is. I would be worried about someones daughter or son. The cops around here don't have enough to do but harass our kids plus its just revenue for the town. I'm glad my kids are old enough that this doesn't apply. My son was stopped on Beekman lane at the time he was 17 and his hair was about to his shoulder, it was about 11:45pm and was about 1 mile from home and was stopped he asked why he was stopped the cop told him because he didn't have his high beams on. Cop took his credentials went back to his car came back in a min or two and told him to go home. When he came home told us about it and all of us were all very confused WHY must you have your high beams on. So I call the station in the morning and the cop ran his plates and
told me no one ever ran them the night before and they asked us if he saw the car # or name of cop and my son didn't. Needless to say you think the cop thought he was pulling over a girl late at night on a very dark section of the road. Hummmm what do you think was up with that. The cop total didn't follow procedure. we need to protect our kids, not the government.

For those of you who disagree with this law, I agree with you. I believe it does make our children easier targets for predators. However, many of you claiming to be "parents" that use bad or bored cops as your excuse to be against the law puzzle me. I think some of you are the children who were stopped. I cannot believe any self-respecting parent would come here to protest their child being stopped by the police and automatically asserting their child is right. Also, the privacy rights argument is stupid, in my opinion. Why don't you look at the facts of the tragic accident? The accident happened around 8:30pm. Why not question how limiting the time a minor is allowed to drive to 1200am would have prevent the very accident that started all this? In my opinion, this is yet another example of laws being passed to compensate for a lack of parental involvement. How many fatal accidents involving minors would have been prevented if parents "just said no", or drove the minors themselves, or checked on the minors frequently? You should stop blaming the police, and look to yourselves for the answers. I also agree with the position that if minors have to have a sticker, then the elderly should too. I do not beleive that will happen though, because the elderly vote, minors do not. But you as parents should vote, and look at the politicians who support these kind of laws and decide if this is what you want or not.

What kind of sticker should be put on the back of a police car of an officer who I saw driving the other day while on his cell phone? And I've seen that more than once.

I think the law does BOTH, makes it easier for police to "harrass" as well as making them an easy target!

First, I do not think a teenager will change the way they drive because they have a sticker, so an accident is an accident regardless!

I do not think a red sticker is going to make anyone feel safer on the road....it just makes it easier for a pedophile to identify their car and I am not saying following this person....I would be more worried if the teen works at the mall or a fast food place or movie theatre (any job that gets out after dark)....all a pedophile would have to do is cruise the parking lot looking for red stickers and then just wait for the teenager to get to their car....surprise (a tragedy occurs)!

When my children are of driving age, they WILL NOT get the stickers and if they need them for the test, I will scrape them off afterwards!

My children will not a be a victim of profile or circumstance!!

I think the law is total age discrimination!!

I have seen some adults and senior citizens driving far more worse than teenagers!

If you are going to require red stickers for teens, then you might as well do blue for the 20's, yellow for the 30's, green for the 40's and black for anyone over 50!!

My children WILL NOT be using the stickers....I will not make them a target for police or pedophiles!!

Straight from the Kyleigh's Law appeals: "The young drivers subject to (Kyleigh's Law) have no reasonable expectation of privacy in their age group because a driver's age can generally be determined by his or her physical appearance, which is routinely exposed to public view."

That's right....look in the car to see their age....if they are in a moving violation of some kind, then you should be able to "see" their age! Red stickers are just to "promote" lazy cops!!

Legislation on these things still exists? I think that it is a de facto agreement by everyone in this state, including police, that they are completely irrelevant and ineffective. More moms with teens drive with these things on their plates than actual kids do.